


Blood Oil

by Katmomma



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games), Red Dead Redemption 2
Genre: Abraham Brigby, Alejandro Cortez, Antonia Reynosa, Brigby Brothers, Cowboys & Cowgirls, Jeremiah Brigby, John Jackson - Freeform, Multi, RDR2, RDR2Online, Strong Female Characters, Video Game: Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018), Western, cortez - Freeform, cowboy, red dead redemption 2 online, strong female lead, villain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2019-11-07 15:49:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 40,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17963489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katmomma/pseuds/Katmomma
Summary: Antonia Aguilar Reynosa had it all in her life. A loving family, a warm home and a bright future ahead of her until  her life is turned upside down. During a long awaited trip to Saint Denis to meet up with the successful Businessman, Leviticus Cornwall, her loving family is kidnapped and killed out of greed. When she finds out her fortune and family's oil industry is in danger of being taken from her, she sets off on a mission to reclaim what rightfully belongs to her even if it means going against her own blood. On the way, she meets John Jackson, an ex Bounty Hunter, who is willing to help her after she promises to pay off his own bounties and give him a second chance from a past life of wrongdoings. Many evils lurk in the shadows that want her dead and out of the picture including Alejandro Cortez and the Brigby twins,  professional bounty hunters hired to kill her by a mysterious source. Antonia and John set off on a dangerous adventure as time begins to run out and will stop at nothing until her family is avenged.





	1. Antonia

For my mother,

_Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Matthew 5:4)_

**Mexico 1899**

Cecilia ran down the corridors of the Reynosa Hacienda. Time was running out and there was still so much to do and so much to pack! The young woman hurried over to the stables and found nothing

"Madre Santa, donde estas?!"(Holy mother, Where are you?!)

Cecilia spoke to herself in a nervous tone. She ran over to search in a couple of bedrooms, 2 different studies and back to the stables but with no luck. Cecilia stopped and thought for a second of where she could find her. She then remembered of one place she hadn't checked yet. Cecilia ran past towards the grapevine fields as fast as she could and gave a sigh of relief when she recognized the familiar figure sitting under one of the fig trees. Under the shade, a young copper-skinned, black-haired woman sat reading a book, completely unaware of the woman that quickly approached her.

"ANTONIA! Al fin te encontre!"(I finally found you!)

Cecilia exclaimed as she took a second to catch her breath and threw herself on the grass beside the young Heiress, who finally looked up from her book. Antonia couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

"Calmate mujer, vas a tener un infarto" (calm down woman, you'll have a heart attack)

Antonia put the book down on her lap and smiled.

Cecilia sat back up with a gasp

"VAMONOS! Su papa la esta buscando y todavia no a terminado de empacar! Andele!!"(Lets go! Your father is looking for you and you still havent finished packing! Hurry!)

She quickly got up and grabbed Antonia's arm to try and pull her up from her reading spot. Antonia playfully shook her head.

"No señorita! You know the deal, I'm not going until you do what I taught you"

Cecilia sighed loudly and protested

"Pero por qquuuueeee?? Yo no necesito hablar ingles!"(but whyyy? I don't need to speak english!)

Antonia gave her a look "Ceciliaaaaa, you promised and we have to practice it! Its the only way well get better speaking it for the trip."

The young maid finally raised her hands in defeat and gave in

"OK! Fine! But only because I need you to come with me now!"

"See? It's not that hard!"

Antonia said to her with a smile as she got up and dusted off her dress. Cecilia rolled her eyes

"As if a maid needs to speak English, I'm glad you taught me but-"

Antonia grabbed her hand to give it a gentle squeeze and started walking with her

"Stop calling yourself that! You're not a maid, you're my sister! Beside it's good to know more than one language."

Cecilia began to pull her to hurry

"A second language won't matter if your father kills you! Hurry!"

Both girls giggled and started running towards the main house of the hacienda. Ernesto Aguilar Reynosa stood in the front with his arms crossed and a stern raised eyebrow on his face. Both girls looked at each other and slowly walked up to him. He uncrossed his arms to place them on his hips and cleared his throat.

"Señorita, ya termino de empacar?"(young lady are you finished packing?)

Antonia slowly shook her head and smiled "no pero-" (no but-) he made another grumble sound "senorita! pero nada! (Young lady! But nothing!) This is an important trip and I want all of us there!"

Antonia looked down not daring to upset her father more but his stern look quickly softened and he walked over to lift her gaze to meet his

"Beside, it'll be our last trip together before you go off to study in Paris with Cecilia"

Antonia looked at him for a second and opened her mouth in excitement. She couldn't contain her happiness as she jumped to hug and kiss her father

"EN SERIO?!(seriously!?) PARIS??"

Cecilia also ran up to hug him "gracias señor Reynosa!"

He kissed both girls on their foreheads and gently smiled

"No es nada mis ninas! (Its nothing my girls) Now you and Ceci better go finish packing or lord help me ill have you both picking up horse poop instead!"

Cecilia and Antonia ran off full of of joyous giggles, they both couldn't believe they would be in Paris soon.

 

The last bag had been loaded on the carriage. Everything was set for their long trip to the city of Saint Augustine

"Todo esta listo señor Reynosa!"(everything is ready Mr Reynosa!)

A farm hand declared as he hopped off the carriage. El Señor Ernesto smiled and gave the man a pat on the back and began to give him instructions for the rest of the farm hands to do while they were away on their trip. Cecilia and Antonia walked towards the carriage but something suddenly caught Antonia's attention. She noticed that their driver wasn't their usual man. It was someone she had actually never seen before. She stared closely at the man and noticed a strange burn mark on his hand. The driver noticed her staring and immediately covered his hand. Her mother's panicked voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts and brushed it off.

"Antonia y Cecilia estan listas? Donde esta mi maletin pequeño? Donde esta Ernesto? Ernesto empacaste tu traje nuevo?" (Are antonia and Cecilia ready? Wheres my small bag? Where is Ernesto? Ernesto did you pack your new suit?)

La señora Silvia Maria Aguilar Reynosa was extra frazzled, she just wanted to make sure everything was set before they left. Ernesto smiled and held his arms to gently hold her

"Mi amor (my love), everything is ready why are you so worked up?"

He reached out for her hand and helped her up on the carriage. She frantically fixed the collar of her dress

"Ay no se(I don't know), I feel so nervous. I feel like I'm forgetting something!" She fanned herself and gave him a worried look

"Ernesto, why don't we have Mr. Warden come here? I'm sure he wouldn't mind coming over and we have more than enough room"

Her husband shook his head and gave a hearty chuckle as he helped Antonia and Cecilia up the carriage

"Because the deal we are closing with him will be done in front of other big businessmen and what better way to close a deal than with a celebration? Mr. Warden was gracious enough to plan a whole party for us to mingle, and it would be good for us to make more friends there my love"

Silvia still wasn't convinced and fidgeted with her necklace

"I just have a very bad feeling about this, ay Dios me siento nerviosa"(oh god im so nervous)

Ernesto entered the carriage and held his wife's hand to give it a gentle kiss

"Don't be, it'll all be alright! Remember, my brother will meet us there! He and his wife have been vacationing out in Saint Augustine and his letters speak nothing but how wonderful it is"

He looked at Cecilia and Antonia and smiled "who knows? Maybe I'll buy a vacation home there as well for you girls, they have the best dressmakers in the whole state from what i hear!"

He gathered all of their hands and looked at each of them

"I want my girls to always be taken care of, even you Cecilia. You're not my blood but the day they brought that little baby girl to me you immediately became a part of my family."

Cecilia wiped her eyes as they teared up "ay señor...gracias..."

He ruffled her hair and chuckled "no crying! Only happiness from now on!"

He checked the time on his trusty golden watch and patted the roof of the carriage

"Señores!! VAMONOS!"(gentlemen! Lets go!)

The sound of the horses neighing and the movement of the carriage finally moving filled Antonia with excitement. She couldn't wait to see what this new chapter in their lives would bring. The endless possibilities.

 

After 3 days on the road, they had finally arrived at Saint Augustine. Antonia couldn't wait to sleep on a real bed, the times they stopped to camp did horrible things to her back. She was wide awake when they rode early morning into the already lively city. Her legs couldn't wait to get out and walk through it. The smell of fresh bread from a passing bakery caught her attention, after being on the road for days some fresh bread seemed like the best thing in the world to her right now. They finally arrived at the beautiful house Mr. Warden had lent them for their stay. It was much smaller than home, but it wouldn't be for long anyways. A man stood in front of the home's gate with a huge grin. It was the younger Reynosa, Octavio and beside him was his equally young wife Teresa. Antonia's mom always had a problem with her, something about her never sat right with her. Sylvia turned to Ernesto and whispered to him

"Te dije que no me cae bien esa mujer... (i told you i dont like that woman..)" Ernesto smiled "be nice mi amor. We are here to celebrate as a family, please no fighting"

She gave him a sigh"fine. But to me, she'll never be a Reynosa!"

Ernesto waved at them and hopped out of the carriage

"Hermano!"(Brother!) Octavio happily greeted and hugged his brother tight

"Are you ready to be a successful Warden associate? Tonight will be a great night for the Reynosa Family!"

Octavio asked his brother happily. Ernesto chuckled as he helped his wife off the carriage

"You already know that as long as my family is with me, nothing can ruin this for us. I'm glad to see you again hermano. It has been too long"

He patted his brother on the back. Octavio turned to Antonia and opened his arms to hug her but Sylvia intercepted him and hugged him instead

"Its good to see you Octavio! Mi amor, why don't you and your brother head inside? I'll tell the men here what to do."

Sylvia smiled at them as Ernesto wrapped his arm around him and gave her a grinning nod. She walked over to men and bodyguards and gave them unloading orders. She turned to Cecilia and Antonia who were already walking towards the streets of Saint Augustine

"Alright girls, let's go see that dressmaker!"

She slowly turned and looked at Teresa to give her a smile

"Will you join us?"

Teresa smiled and nodded "yes, yes I will..."

 

Evening slowly fell.The Warden Mansion was full of laughs and chatter. Ernesto and Sylvia arrived to the party looking quite elegant as a pair, but the real head turners were Cecilia and Antonia. Both young women wore beautiful red dresses with red flowers that adorned their beautiful dark hair. They were both sights to behold and lovely in their own way. The night went on and the celebration continued. Charles Warden walked over to Ernesto and Octavio as they drank and talked to each other

"I hope you are enjoying yourself, Ernest!"

Ernesto patted Mr. Warden on the back "yes, thank you. My family is very thankful for your wonderful hospitality!"

Warden took a sip of his whiskey and waved it towards him

"Come now and tell me good man, what will you be doing now that you have money to burn? I hope nothing too extravagant or ill get jealous!"

Octavio and Warden looked at each other and laughed.

Ernesto smiled and shook his head "No, No nothing like that. Instead, I'll be investing in my country. Things like schoolhouses, shelters, and food for the poor communities. It would really help my people alot."

Warden almost choked on his second sip of whiskey

"But my dear man, you have millions at your whim and you want to do that?? You're best off actually burning it if that's your plan!"

Octavio nodded "he's right brother, why not expand the company region and make more money? I'm sure Mr. Warden here would like that"

Warden gleefully chuckled and patted Octavio in the back

"Your brother here has a good head on his shoulders! Let's make more money son!"

Ernesto looked at both men and took a drink "respectfully, money is not everything in my life. I have much more important things to think about..."

He turned and waved at Sylvia who was fixing Antonia's hair flowers. Both smiled at him and waved back.

He continued "if I were to die, I want to leave them in a country they can be proud of."

Octavio smiled as he looked in the same direction. Warden shook his head in disagreement.

"Well I think it's preposterous, but I won't be one to judge your actions after all in the end well both get rich with this partnership old boy!"

He put his hand on Ernesto's shoulder

"But I do hope you wise up soon son" and walked away.

Octavio stared and smiled at his older brother "sometimes hermano, i think you're too good for this world"

Ernesto laughed and mimicked Warden "perhaps one day son, Teresa will give you what I have and you'll see the world how I see it"

Both brothers laughed and continued to mingle in the party. The night went on and after a long night of chatter and laughter, the night had finally settled in the temporary Reynosa home. Antonia brushed sleepy Cecilia's hair as they got ready for bed in their nightgowns. Ernesto and Octavio were in the garden, still drinking catching up on lost time. Sylvia had fallen asleep before everyone while Teresa stood out in the front of the house smoking a cigarette. The night was quiet. Antonia finished braiding Cecilia's hair and curled up into bed with her. Both girls cuddled each other tightly and wished each other goodnight. Antonia stared at the moon coming in through the window and slowly drifted off into sleep. The bed felt like heaven.

 

Antonia's deep sleep was interrupted abruptly with Teresa's hand over her mouth, sheer panic on her face

"we need to hide!" she said with a shaky whisper to her and Cecilia.

Antonia was confused and suddenly scared

"Teresa, what's goin-" she heard a crash and her mother shriek

"MAMA!!" she screamed as she tried to get off the bed but Teresa grabbed her by the arm and pulled both girls into the closet

"There's too many of them! When I tell you to run just run!"

Antonia and Cecilia held each other close in that closet as they heard the loud shuffling downstairs and what sounded like men talking loudly

"Get all of them, there should be 4 of them, check upstairs!"

Teresa tried blocking the door with the dresser but the strength of two masked men pushed right through it. Teresa grabbed a vase and threw it at them but both men laughed as they dodged it and grabbed her before she could grab anything else to throw at them and tried to pin her down. Teresa screamed

"RUN!!" as she struggled with both men.

Cecilia and Antonia bolted out of the closet and ran into the hallway. One of the men quickly ran after them and grabbed Cecilia by the hair. Antonia turned back and threw herself at him while she scratched and punched the man

"LET HER GO!!!"

Antonia quickly uncovered his arm and bit him as hard as she could. The man let out a growling yelp and slammed her hard against the wall

"You little fucking bitch!"

Cecilia quickly turned and kicked him right in between his legs. The man dropped to the ground but he let out a scream

"THERE'S 2 UPSTAIRS!"

While he writhed on the floor Cecilia quickly picked up dazed Antonia and continued running through the house. They both ran down a small flight of stairs in the back that led to the kitchen. Antonia tried to reach for the back door but her hand was suddenly caught by a terrifying looking man

"And where do you think you're going, little bird?"

She shrieked as she tried to pull away but the man grabbed her by the neck and threw her to another man standing behind him, who quickly tied her up and put a sack over her head. Cecilia ran back up the stairs while the man laughed and chased after her

"Come here little filly! You're a feisty one, aren't ya?!"

Panic. It was all Antonia could feel since she couldn't see anything. She only hear the screams of her family and the men speaking to each other

"What do we do with the other two boss?"

"Leave 'em we only need the rich greasers, besides someone's gotta get that ransom money for them"

Some of the men began to laugh. Cecilia suddenly screamed but went quiet. Antonia's heart raced as she was picked up and carried out of the house

"HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE!"

She pleaded into the night hoping someone would hear her but something heavy suddenly hit her on the head. Everything sounded distant. There was only darkness.

 

Antonia hazily woke up to a strange sound and what sounded like crying. Her hazy mind was still trying to figure out her surroundings. She quickly realized the sound was her mother screaming. She quickly tried to sit up, but she was still tied up on her side. Once her eyes were able to see better she looked around. She was in some type of barn in a cage and sitting next to her was Cecilia, who was also tied up and sobbing. The rush of panic fell over her again like a wave of cold water. Tears started to run down her eyes once again as frantically tried to untie herself. She turned to Cecilia who was inconsolable

"They're hurting her! They're hurting her!"

Cecilia kept repeating over and over. Antonia looked around to try and find her mother but was only able to see her father tied up to a wooden pole. His face was battered and bloody from being beaten and tortured earlier, unable to do anything but listen to his beloved wife scream for mercy. Antonia managed to get up on her feet

"WHERE IS MY MOTHER!? LET HER GO!! LET MY MOTHER GO!!"

Her father lifted his head and gave a pained look to his only daughter with the one eye that hadn't been beaten shut

"Hija...no..."

A strange man rushed over and tightly grabbed her by the neck and roughly pulled her close to the bars

"You wanna take her place then?!"

He quickly unlocked the gate and pulled Antonia out. Cecilia and her father screamed as the man dragged Antonia towards her mother's screams. When she saw three men brutally raping her mother, she let out a loud shriek

"LET HER GO!!!"

More tears ran down her face as she tried to look away but the the man grabbed her by the chin to tightly force her to look back and laughed. He then pushed Antonia to the ground. They all screamed louder and begged as the man jumped on her and began to fondle her while he eagerly undid his own clothes. The terrifying man suddenly appeared out of the shadows and stabbed the assailant in the neck

"Jameson...."

He sputtered before falling on Antonia. She screamed even louder as his warm blood rained on her. The man laughed as he watched the other slowly die on the ground. He cleaned up his knife and looked up at another nearby man as he snapped his fingers

"Clean that up."

Another man rushed over to move the dead body and pick up Antonia by the arm to put her back in the cage. Both girls sobbed and huddled together away from the bars. The man with the knife walked over to look in the cage

"Dont you worry señoritas, old Jameson here will take good care of ya..."

He pointed at them with the knife "don't you little fillies go anywhere now..."

He gave them a menacing smile and walked over to Ernesto. Ernesto weakly held his head up

"please....let them go...do whatever you want with me but...let my girls go...."

The man laughed "now why would I want to do that? Were all having a great time!"

He raised his knife and began to slowly slice Ernesto's chest. Cecilia and Antonia begged him to stop. Ernesto cried out

"PLEASE! Ill give you all the money....ANYTHING YOU WANT!!.... but please let them go....."

"Your money is no good here. Pesos aint worth shit around here and I'm actually getting paid more to keep you here"

He walked over and grinned

"Soooo until then you're all gonna have to sit here looking pretty.....and speaking of pretty...you have some lovely daughters that need my attention..."

He signaled one of his men towards the cage. The man opened the gate and grabbed sobbing Cecilia. Antonia tried to keep him away but he struck her down immediately. Cecilia screamed and struggled as the man handed her over to his boss, he gently touched her face

"Come now little filly, I wont hurt ya..."

He gave her a creepy smile and began to drag Cecilia away. Ernesto screamed as he tried to untie himself

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!? WHO ARE YOU?!"

Jameson turned and gave him a grin

"You don't know me?? I'm Jameson McCarty! Leader of the McCarty Gang and the one who will decide your fate. So sit tight! You're gonna be here a while....."

He let out a laugh as he walked away with a sobbing Cecilia.

 

Lord knows how long they had been there but it felt like days. It felt like and even longer eternity since Jameson had taken Cecilia away. Antonia quietly sobbed in her cage. She slowly stood up and looked at her father who was also quietly crying in his binds. After days of hearing her scream, Mama had finally stopped. Antonia whimpered to her father

"Papa....papa, tengo miedo(i am scared)..."

Her voice was raspy and almost gone from screaming/crying. Her father weakly lifted his head and gave her a smile through his tears

"I know you are my darling....it'll be alright...soon well be together again...I promise.."

Her father cleared his throat

"I want you to know....your mother..she....she loved you very much, as do I....be strong mi vida..."

Antonia closed her teary eyes and nodded,

"Si papa....i love you too...i will be strong..."

The moment was suddenly interrupted when a man opened a door and finally brought Cecilia back in. Her nightgown was torn, her face was bruised and her face looked hollow. The man threw her back in the cage and locked it. He looked and smirked at Antonia

"I'll be coming back for you later, fresh meat....you're going to make a lot of the men here very happy..."

He reached in to touch her face but she pulled away from him to keep him away. The man laughed as he walked out of the barn. Antonia couldn't stop shaking. She was finally able to get her sore hands lose out of her binds and quickly ran to hold Cecilia with all of her strength but she could tell she wasn't right. Antonia softly cried as she whispered to her

"remember....god always punishes the wicked..."

Cecilia held her tightly and finally began to cry again. She looked up to Antonia with tears in her eyes

"We have to escape....you..you have to get out of here! Before they come back...these men....they're monsters...."

Antonia shook her head

"No...I would rather die than leave you and papa" but Cecilia insisted "you have to! Don't let him....don't let them do to you what they did to me..."

Antonia shook her head again

"I'm not leaving you or papa! There has to be a way we can escape together..."

She slowly got up and looked around for something to pick the lock with. She saw a fork one of the men had left nearby. Perfect. She stretched her hand out of the cage as far as she could and tried to reach for it. She touched it with the tip of her fingers but wasn't able to quite grab it so she pressed herself onto the cage more and was able to get it to drop closer. Antonia grabbed the fork with the tip of her fingers and pulled it towards her. Once she was able to get a hold of it, she bent it so she could pick the lock with it. Cecilia held her breath as she observed her trying to make the lock click. They needed to hurry before anyone came to check in on them. Their hearts skipped a beat when they finally heard a click! She slowly opened cage door and both girls hurried over to Ernesto. Antonia began to untie him and while Cecilia held him so he wouldn't fall onto the ground. He couldn't stand up at all, he couldn't feel his legs. They had been tied up so tightly for days, he wasn't able to walk. He looked down at Cecilia as she gently tried to put him down

"Ceci...go over to that box and get whats inside of it...bring it to me..."

Cecilia nodded and did what she was told. Antonia continued to try and get him up on his feet but he shook his head no

"I cant my loves, ill only slow you down...i need you to go...go without me! Take care of each other and... don't look back!"

Antonia kept trying to make her father stand up but it was no use. He was ready to give his life for his daughters to give them a chance to escape. Cecilia walked back over to Ernesto and handed him the contents he had asked for, 3 sticks of TNT and matches. Antonia shook her head and tried to Cecilia from giving him the items

"No no no no! Papa no! Por favor get up!"

He gently put his hand on her face and pulled his trusty gold watch out of his pocket. He put the watch in her hands and held them tightly for a bit

"This watch is worth a lot of money...take it....Flag someone down and pay them to take you to your uncle back to Saint Augustine....now go....i need you to take cover now..."

Antonia hesitated. She didn't want to leave her father. The men would for sure kill him if he carried out whatever plan he had in mind. Cecilia quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her to hide behind some wood pile at the other end of the barn. Ernesto lit the fuze of one of the dynamite sticks and started screaming at the top of his lungs

"JAMESON!! COME AND GET ME YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

He threw the explosive towards a wall and broke it down for the girls to run through.

"GO! GO! GO!"

Her father shouted at them as he sat there waiting for the men to come and check the explosion. Cecilia pulled Antonia's hand as hard as she could and ran through the hole. Antonia turned back to her father and reached out for him

"PAPA!!"

He slowly waved at her with one last smile

"Be brave mis niñas....be brave..."

Ernesto then lit up another stick and threw it to the door where the men started coming from. Both girls ran into the dark night, the smell of lavender lingered in the cold air that ran through their hair. The sound of another explosion and then gunshots echoed behind them.

"Adios papa..."

Antonia whispered to herself as they kept running into the unknown. They held onto each others hands tightly. With the dark forest only getting thicker and thicker. Their hearts dropped when they heard the sound of men shouting and horses galloping behind them. They were now being hunted. She could hear bullets being shot and flying by them. Antonia and Cecilia couldn't make out what was in front of them and let the moonlight guide them through the night as they kept running away from the danger. The sound of bullets and horses neighing as they got closer and closer made them run faster. Suddenly, Cecilia shrieked and fell onto the ground. Antonia turned and caught a glimpse of blood that shimmered under the moonlight. A bullet had shot through her leg. Antonia frantically tried to pick her up

"GET UP! GET UP PLEASE!"

She pleaded as she grabbed Cecilia's arm and tried to put it around her neck. Cecilia pushed her away

"NO! GO! KEEP RUNNING!"

Antonia kept trying to pull her up

"Please! Get up! Please! Don't leave me alone!"

Cecilia pushed her away again and looked up to her. The moon made the tears running down her face glisten.

"You'll never be alone....you're my sister remember....please...go..."

The horses were coming closer and closer. Antonia cried as she looked down at Cecilia and started to back away slowly. Cecilia smiled at her.

"I love you. ill wait for you with mama and papa...run....please run!"

Antonia looked at her one last time before running back into the darkness. She ran as fast as her feet could carry her and once again the sound of gunshots echoed in the air. She couldn't see her way through her tears. Her whole life had been taken away from her in a heartbeat. She wanted to go back and just let them kill her but she couldn't stop running. She wanted to just end this torture. Out in the distance, she suddenly heard the whistle of a train. Antonia ran towards the sound and saw a Warden oil train just leaving a small empty station. She turned and saw the men in the distance coming out of the trees riding towards her with their guns ready to kill. She took a small leap of faith and quickly ran towards the train. She managed to jump onto the last cart and quickly hide between some covered crates. Antonia closed her eyes and silently prayed for them to call off their chase. The men reached where they had last seen her and searched the small area. It wasn't long before they realized she had hopped on the train

"Let's go get her!"

One of the men shouted as Jameson rode in just in time to stop them.

"NO! We got paid, she ain't my problem anymore and besides she ain't gonna make it far..."

He looked at his men and signaled them for them to return. Jameson McCarty sighed and for a moment looked as the train disappeared in the distance

"fly away little bird, fly away. You'll soon be back in your cage..."

He grinned as he turned around to head back.


	2. John

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter John, please forgive my writting but this is a rush of creativity and i havent written in a long time. Twitter: @tumadrekat

_The sky was clear, the sun was shining. Antonia and Cecilia ran through the corridors of the Reynosa hacienda happily. Her mother and father looked at them and laughed at the silly girls run by. Her father's face changed into a solemn expression and called out to her_

_"Antonia, remember to wake up!"_

_She turned and looked at him as he spoke again_

_"Wake up mi amor"._

"Hey, wake up!"

She opened her eyes and saw a man in a uniform standing over her 

"How the hell did you get in here? Actually, I don't care get the hell out of here before my boss sees ya!" 

He lifted her up by the arm and dragged her out of the train cart. She gave the man a pained look as he pulled her out, her voice still raspy from the last couple of days 

"Please sir...I need help... I nee-" 

But before she could finish, the man yelled and pushed her away.

"I said get out of here!"

She stumbled and looked back at him. Antonia watched him as he turned and disappeared back into the train cart. She looked around to see where she ended up and had absolutely no idea where she was. There was nothing but empty plains in the distance and what looked like some houses around what seemed to be a big oil rig. She noticed a large woman sweeping the front of one of the little houses. She took the first steps and walked towards the woman with the hope that she could help her somehow. The woman continued her sweeping when she looked up and noticed the girl coming towards her 

"Goodness gracious child! You're walking around in your delicates! You got a ticks or something?!" 

Antonia blushed. She had completely forgotten she was walking around in nothing but a dirty, torn nightgown. She felt the embarrassment rise to her face and slowly shook her head 

"No ma'am...I actually need help..." 

The woman gave her a funny look and continued sweeping 

"Well you ain't gonna find it here! I already have too many mouths to feed and I can't spare anything for you. Sorry." 

Antonia took a couple of steps towards her 

"Please ma'am... I need to get to Saint Augustine. I just need someone to take me or at least give me directions" 

The woman gave her a crazy look. 

"SAINT AUGUSTINE?! That's a 2-day trip! What could you possibly want to do there? You don't exactly seem like the Saint Augustine type child"

Antonia looked down, tears starting to form in her eyes. She spoke with a lump in her throat 

"There was...some men...that broke into our home there...and they killed my family and..." 

She couldn't say anymore. She didn't want to. The woman slowly put her broom down and gave her a worried look 

"Oh...child...I'm so sorry..." 

She looked towards the distance and then back at Antonia 

"Look, I don't have any way to get you to Saint Augustine but there's a town down those tracks. Someone could help you there with that. The least I can do is give you a skirt to put over yourself...I wish I could do more for you child..."

Antonia looked up at her and nodded with a small smile "it is more than enough...Thank you..."

The town of Farstead was small and lively. It looked like a smaller version of the plazas in Mexico but less colorful and with way more mud. There was many shops and people walking around peacefully carrying on their day. The music of a nearby saloon made the town much more lively. Antonia walked to the middle of town and tried to find the sheriffs office. Maybe if she told them her story, someone would escort her safely to Saint Augustine. It seemed like a solid plan to her. Antonia finally found it and walked up to the sheriff's door. She reached out to grab the handle but there was sudden gunshots and a loud commotion inside the small town bank. There was someone inside robbing it! 

Screaming people ran in every direction of the town trying to get away from the gunfire. Antonia didn't know where to go. She looked around ran towards a covered produce cart that was nearby and hid herself in the back. The bullets continued to fire out and into the bank as the law tried to stop the criminal inside from escaping. Antonia closed her eyes and covered her ears as the shooting got louder and louder. She suddenly fell over when the cart started to move really fast. The bank thief had run out and taken the cart she was hiding in! She tried to hang on to anything she could but with no success. Whoever this person was had no intention of stopping or driving like a sane person any time soon. The sheriffs followed on their horses and began shooting at the thief and the cart.

'They're going to kill me if I don't do something!' 

Antonia thought to herself as she grabbed on to the side of the cart and lifted herself up towards the back. The sheriffs quickly noticed her and shouted to each as they continued the chase. They stopped shooting completely so they wouldn't harm her. A sudden bump made her lose her balance and fall back into the contents of the cart. Unaware of his stowed away fallen passenger, the covered-up thief turned and began shooting at the sheriffs, giving them no choice but to stop the chase and let him go. He smiled smugly to himself as he rode the cart away from them and headed north towards the open fields of Plainpeak. Antonia didn't dare move, she needed to get off the cart but was afraid he'd shoot her and jumping off at this speed was most definitely not an option. She had to wait for the right moment to escape this crazy bastard.

After what seemed like hours of riding with the mysterious thief, he finally came to a stop. He untied the horses for a bit so they could drink from a small nearby creek. The man removed his mask to reveal his swept back brown hair. He was handsome, but looked stern and tired. She noticed he had a deep scar on one side of his face, something he probably got doing no good. The man walked over to the little creek and splashed some water on his face. He walked back over to the back of the cart as he dried his face with his bandana 

"Let's see what I scored here.." 

He spoke to himself as he unlatched the small back door. To his surprise, he was suddenly hit in the face with a cabbage followed by an onion 

"WHAT THE HELL?!" 

He shouted in shock as Antonia threw anything else she could at him. He backed up shielding his face with his arms as she continued to attack him with the vegetables and other produce 

"Maldito ladron! (Damn thief!) don't you have any shame!! TAKE THIS!" 

She shouted at him as she threw the cans she found at him. The man dodged the items and pulled out his gun

"You stop this right now or I swear ill shoot you!" 

He warned her as raised his gun and aimed it at her head. She froze for a second but called his bluff 

"Do it! You'll not only be a thief but a murderer too!" 

And threw another can at him. The man growled and quickly climbed up the cart to grab her before she threw anything else. Antonia screamed and tried to climb through the front but was picked up by the man and carried off to the back of the cart 

"Where the hell did you come from?!" 

He asked as he struggled with the aggressive stowaway and put her in a headlock. She fought to get herself out with no success so she bit him. He yelped and let her go to give her a look of confusion as he looked at the bite mark. She hurried off the cart 

"I hid in there when you robbed the bank you...you crazy!" 

He looked at her then down at his arm 

"Did you just fucking bite me?! And you're calling me crazy?!" 

He hopped off the back of the cart and slammed the small back door shut.

"Listen lady, if anyone's crazy here, its you!" 

She bravely walked up to him 

"My name is Antonia!" 

"I don't care!" 

He shouted back to her as pulled the horses one by one back to the cart and strapped them back in while Antonia looked around and tried to figure out where she was. Where the hell did he bring her? She was now more lost than when she started. Once the man got the horses set, he got back on the cart and slowly began to drive away. Antonia panicked and ran to put herself in front of the cart and blocked the horses way as she called out to him, 

"WAIT! Wait!" 

The man quickly pulled the reins and gave her an annoyed look. The worry on Antonia's face clearly visible 

"You're going to just leave me here?!" 

The man grabbed the reins with one hand and leaned forward to show her his irritation, 

"You're not my problem lady, now get the hell put of the way before I run you over!" 

Antonia didn't budge. 

"NO! you can't just leave me here! It's getting dark and where will I go?!" 

The man gave her a cynical smile "again, I don't care! Now move!" 

Antonia glared into his eyes 

"What's your name?!" 

She asked him as she walked up to the drivers side of the cart. The man gave her a confused look and let out and irritated sigh 

"Why do you want to know my name?" 

She crossed her arms and gave him an angry look 

"I want to be sure I know the name of the man who basically kidnapped me and left me here stranded to die!" 

The man let out a laugh 

"Well in that case, it's John. John Jackson. Goodbye!" 

He snapped the reins and began to drive the cart away from her. She slowly followed and stopped to yell out to him 

"IF I DIE, I'M GOING TO HAUNT YOU!" 

John turned his head and yelled back 

"GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!" 

And disappeared in a nearby turn. Antonia growled loudly as she grabbed her head in frustration and panic 'now what?' she looked down both sides of the empty road. How the hell was she going to get to Saint Augustine now? She took a deep breath and began walking down the road they had come from, she was bound to find something.

John took a bite of some jerky he had found in the produce and began to chew on it. He kept thinking about the girl and how she would probably die out on her own but dismissed the thought of her quickly.

"She'll be fine" 

He assured himself as he tried to clear his mind, it would be a while before he made it to where he needed to be and slowing down for some annoying girl wasn't going to help him. So he just kept silently driving the cart into the setting sun.

After walking for a while, night had fallen and so did the temperature. Antonia wrapped her arms around herself as she walked down the dark road. The creepy sounds around her made her heart beat fast. Nightfall terrified her. She walked faster as she heard rustling near her, her heart and mind raced as she thought of all the things that could kill her at that moment. Suddenly she heard a howl and growling, a mangy lone wolf jumped out the shadows! She quickly ran as fast as she could to get away but the beast jumped and grabbed her skirt pulling her down to the ground. She managed to kick it away and get up on her feet again. Antonia didn't know where else to go. She ran down a small ravine but froze when she realized she walked into a dead end! She turned and looked at the wolf who was ready to attack. She tightly closed her eyes when she saw the wolf ready to jump on her when out of nowhere bullets shot out from the night and the wolf dropped dead. She gasped and dropped to the ground with her hands on her chest. The moon revealed a figure walking towards her, it was John. He checked his gun and put it back in his holster 

"well, are you coming or what?"

The whole trip was quiet. Antonia looked at the rising sun. She hadn't seen such a sight in a while. 

"You know if you keep staring at it, you'll go blind" 

John remarked as he continued driving the cart. She gave him a side eye look 

"well maybe, I want to go blind Mr?" 

He gave her a confused look and just shook his head 

"Tsk, suit yourself" 

He murmured as he took another bite of jerky. She turned to him and covered herself up more with the blanket he gave her 

"thank you. thank you for coming back for me." 

John continued to drive the wagon and look down the road 

"Yeah well, I didn't want some annoying ghost coming for me. I have plenty of those".

After a while, John Jackson began to slowly ride off the road and into some open plains. There were colorful tents in the distance and people going about their day. As they got closer she could hear the sudden excitement when a kid shouted out for everyone to hear 

"John's back!"

A good amount of people came over to greet him. John smiled as he stopped the cart in front of a cheerful crowd. 

"I brought back a gift for all of you, please take it and enjoy!" 

He spoke to the crowd as he jumped off the cart and walked through its people towards a beautiful black-haired woman who was dressed in the most beautiful robes. Antonia couldn't help but just admire her. She was simply stunning. John and the woman held each other for a bit and pressed their foreheads together in a tender moment. Antonia climbed down and awkwardly stood to the side. She was relieved to see John walking towards her with the beautiful woman, who was smiling at her and gently reached out for her hands. 

"Let's get you cleaned up and out of those torn clothes. Come with me..."

The beautiful woman lead her to a nearby tent. She stepped in and walked over to a trunk, where she began to pull out a lovely colorful outfit for her. Antonia looked around in amazement at the beautifully adorned interior of the tent, such neat trinkets everywhere. She looked down at the clothes she was setting out for her and hesitated for a bit 

"Excuse me miss.... but do you have anything in black?" 

The woman turned to her with a gentle smile and a confused look 

"Its Seline, and yes of course!" 

She went back into the trunk to pull out a black dress for her. Seline turned to her and smiled 

"ill get a bath ready for you, ill be back" and walked out of the tent.

The whole day had been full of celebration with John being in the center of attention and before anyone realized it, nightfall came again. John walked over to Antonia, who was sitting quietly away from everything, and handed her a plate of dinner. She just stared down at the plate with no desire, the last thing she wanted to do was eat. John looked at her 

"You need to eat, when was the last time you ate?" 

She quietly shrugged and put the plate down next to her. John sighed 

"Look, as soon as morning hits ill take you to a nearby train station. Ill get you a train ticket to Saint Augustine and you can take it from there." 

Antonia nodded and gave him a small smile. He took a drink from his cup and leaned forward 

"why do you need to get to Saint Augustine anyways?" 

She felt her throat lump up again but kept herself composed 

"I need to find my uncle...he's the only one that can help me since....my family and I were kidnapped.... I was the only one that survived and managed to escape...almost a day ago..."

John rubbed his neck 

"Oh damn....i'm sorry." 

They both looked down at the fire in silence for a moment when Seline walked over with a beaming smile and sat next to John to give him a kiss on the cheek 

"Thank you for your gift, my people are very grateful." 

He shyly smiled at her and nodded "it was nothing really."

Seline then turned to Antonia 

"And how are you doing? Any better?" 

Antonia smiled "thank you for everything. The wonderful food and the lovely dress...I'm sorry if I haven't been much..." 

Seline held John's hand and gave her a concerned look 

"It's alright don't apologize, when I first saw you I could tell you had gone through something. I could see it in your eyes." 

John cleared his throat and whispered to Seline 

"She and her family were kidnapped, she is the only one who survived..."

A soft gasp came out of Seline's mouth as she put her hand on her chest 

"I'm so sorry.." 

She stood up and pulled Antonia in for a gentle hug, something she really needed at the time. A small smile formed again on Antonia's face 

"I guess it was a good thing I hid in that wagon when I did, right!?"

The words out of her mouth made John go pale when Seline quickly shot him a glare 

"Why would you need to hide?" 

Antonia gave her a confused look and turned to John 

"You didn't tell her you stole the wagon? When you ran out of the bank?" 

Seline stood up and looked at John's face 

"A BANK?!?!" 

She began to tell him off in a strange language but then reverted back to English 

"You promised me! You promised you wouldn't continue your life of crime!" 

John slowly stood up and put his arms in front of himself to try and calm her down 

"Look, it wasn't that bad! No one got hurt and-" 

Seline immediately slapped him and held up 4 fingers "4 bounties on your head and you still risk it all!? I want to be a bride one day John, not a widow!" 

And furiously walked away. John sighed and slowly sat back down. Antonia realized she had messed up majorly and couldn't stop apologizing 

"I didn't know, I'm so sorry..."

He raised his hand dismissively 

"Its fine, I'll just talk to her later once she calms down." 

He pulled out a flask and took 2 sips out of it and slowly turned back to look at the fire 

"you have 4 bounties?" 

Antonia shyly asked. He nodded and took another sip from his flask 

"Yeah 3 are small things like robbery and fighting, the last one is..." 

He stopped himself and put his flask away 

"Never mind alright, you should get rest. I'll be heading up to Wolfbank early in the morning and it's a long way. You can stay in my old tent tonight, you should be safe there."

Both stood up and walked through the camp. He led her and stopped in front of a medium size tent 

'Here you go. If you need anything just holler" 

Antonia looked at the tent, then at John 

"Where will you sleep?" 

John gave her a playful look 

"I'll go talk to Seline, don't you worry about me"

And gave her a smirk with a wink. Antonia returned him a clueless look 

"So then where will you sleep?" 

John just shook his head 

"I'll figure it out, go to bed" and walked away but before he could turn she quickly grabbed his arm and whispered to him 

"Thank you...." 

John just gave her a gentle nod and walked away. She looked up at the sky before entering the tent. The stars looked so beautiful that night.

_Antonia could see her mother sitting in a chair. She was holding a baby and rocking her back and forth. She turned to Antonia_

_"She's my life......but something is trying to kill her...."_

_The sound of wolves howling in the darkness startled her and made her mother run away with the baby crying in her arms._

_"Keep running! Never look back!"_

Antonia woke up with tears on her eyes. She sat up, took a deep breath and dried her eyes. She missed her family so much, how she wished to have them here. She could hear John talking somewhere outside. Antonia stepped out of the tent and walked over to his voice. John was talking to Seline, who seemed hesitant 

"How will I know you'll keep your promise to me this time?" 

John fixed the saddle of his horse 

"Have I ever gotten in trouble?" 

And gave her a playful smile. Seline threw herself and hugged him tightly 

"Come back to me, please" 

Antonia slowly walked up to them and gave them a shy good morning. Seline walked over to her and also gave her a tight hug before John walked over to pick her up onto the horse. He handed her a couple of biscuits 

"Eat up, it's a long while to Wolfbank".

 

The road to Wolfbank was very green. Antonia saw deer and foxes a couple of times, she even thought she saw a bear at some point. She had never been to any part of the country like this, she enjoyed the tranquility of the woods. It reminded her of her reading spot back home. She held onto John tightly as the horse trotted down the roads. After a couple of hours riding, they finally made it to Wolfbank. It was quiet town hidden in the woods. A fancy worded man stood in front of a hotel greeting people and making sure all ran smoothly. John stopped and hoped off the horse. He helped Antonia get down and looked at a shop 

"Here, why don't you go in and look around in that store there. I'm gonna check some mail and get your train ticket here at the post office."

He pointed at what looked like a cabin across the way. Antonia nodded and did as she was told. The man at the register was very kind, he gave her a piece of chocolate while she browsed around.

"Wolfbank has been getting a lot of visitors lately. Its quite nice to see the town bustling about, are you traveling?" 

The cashier asked her as he cleaned his counter. Antonia nodded 

"Yes, you could say that. I come all the way from Mexico on.... a trip..." 

She didn't want anyone to know who she was and kept it simple. The cashier smiled 

"Well welcome! You make sure you stay safe out here, those damn McCarty boys are out in the area and god knows what they'd do to a lovely lady like yourself. Good thing you have someone with you, this country is dangerous" 

He gave her a smile as he shook his head. Antonia's heart dropped when she heard the name 

"M-McCarty.??" 

She managed to speak in a shaky tone. She suddenly couldn't breathe. Her mother's screams echoed in her head. Antonia felt her head spin but suddenly stopped when John walked up to her and gave her a pat on the head snapping her out of it. 

"Hey stay low, there's something going on outside"

John told her as he and the shopkeeper looked out of the window to see a drunken fool shooting his gun in the air. He was yelling and shouting a whole bunch of curses at everyone that walked by him. 

"NONE OF YOU HAVE THE BALLS TO FACE ME!! WE'D HAVE THIS WHOLE FUCKING TOWN BURNED TO THE GROUND WITH ALL OF YOU IN IT!" 

The man yelled as he shot again in the air. He grabbed a passerby and began to try and fight with him as his poor victim just tried to get away. Antonia walked to one of the other windows and tried to look closely at the raging drunk. The shopkeeper just shook his head 

"What I tell ya miss? That damn McCarty gang is out of control!" 

The drunk rolled up his sleeves and that's when she noticed the familiar burn mark. The realization hit her like a bull. This was the same man that drove them from Mexico! The man she didn't recognize that night when they left her home had been a McCarty the whole time! Antonia quickly walked over to John and loudly whispered to him 

"I need to capture him!" 

John gave her a frowned confused look 

"And why in hell's name do you need to capture that crazy bastard?" 

She looked out the window and then back at John 

"He was one of the men that kidnapped us! I need to know who sent out for my family" 

She turned to the window making sure he was still there. John looked at her and handed her the train ticket 

"Just take this and get away from here!" 

He looked down at her with the ticket still in his hand 

"Look, we can't catch someone that's tried to kill you! What if they want to finish the job? You think about that?" 

The drunk managed to get on his horse and began to ride off. Antonia looked outside then down at the ticket nervously. She just couldn't let him get away, if anyone knew who sent for her family it would be that fool riding away. She made a quick dash for the door and ran out of the shop. John tried to grab her but she slipped away before he could get a good grip. 

"HEY! Don't do this!" 

He yelled out after her and tried to catch her but she quickly mounted a nearby horse and took off after the man. John hopped on his own horse and followed her!

"DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID!" 

His words were ignored.

 

The drunk kept riding fast unaware of his pursuers. He made it down the hill to a big open field full of lavender flowers. The same smell she recognized when she escaped that night. She stopped her horse and hid behind some trees while she saw him going into a big ranch. 

'That must've been the place...' 

She thought to herself while John caught up to her 

"Alright, I'm gonna ask you this in the nicest way possible but ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?!" 

She pointed to the ranch in the distance 

"I think that's where they had us when they kidnapped us!" 

John looked down at her "and what is your plan exactly? Go in there asking like you weren't kidnapped by them?" 

She looked down and wiped the small tears that started to form from her eyes

"John, please.... I need to know..." 

John thought for a moment and looked into her eyes. He let out a sigh. 

"Well, first we need to get closer." 

He took one of his revolvers from his holster and handed it to her 

"Do you know how to use one of these?" 

He asked as she took the gun 

"Yes, my father tried teaching me but my aim isn't very good" 

John gave her a couple of bullets. 

"Well then you're going to learn to aim today just remember the key to shooting a gun is breathing, when you shoot all the air has to be out of your lungs and keep your hands steady." 

Antonia nodded and held onto the gun tightly as John led the way "and let's hope to god we don't have to use them today".

The ranch seemed eerily quiet. John and Antonia left their horses near some trees and snuck around to the side. John looked around and made sure the coast was clear with Antonia closely behind him. He stood up and peeked from the corner of the old house, he saw nothing. He was confused and turned to whisper back to her 

"Are you sure this is the right place?" 

She shrugged 

"I don't know but I need to find that drunk idiot, lets keep searching!" 

John suddenly froze as he heard voices and grabbed Antonia still. 

"Why do we always end up as the cleaning crew? I joined to go killing not cleaning!" 

A voice complained as he made a grunting sound and dropped something heavy on the ground. The drunken McCarty walked over, 

"Oh shut up! It could be worse and you could end up like Bill over there with a bullet to the head."

"Yeah, Jameson was really upset when that girl ran off, wasn't he?" 

"Yeah, it's going to be annoying as hell when he comes back, some of the boys were saying that he might want us to bring her back at some point" one of them groaned.

"Let's just finish this and get it done"

John looked over and saw them carrying 3 body lumps and throwing them into a hole 

"We'll burn these bodies before they get back and get to drinking, I brought back some whiskey from that weak ass town!" 

Both men laughed. John realized how dangerously close Antonia was to being captured again 

"Hey we have to go back, you shouldn't be this close." 

There was no reply. 

He turned and realized Antonia was gone! Where the hell could she have gone? He turned to see the men about to light the bodies when out of nowhere one of them was knocked out with a huge stick. The drunk McCarty freaked out and struggled to pull his gun out. John quickly stood up and shot him in the leg, making him drop to the ground. 

"AAAAAH! WHAT THE FUUUUUCK!" 

He screamed as he grabbed his leg and squirmed. Antonia walked up to him and grabbed him by the shirt 

"WHO SENT YOU TO KILL MY FAMILY?!" 

John gently pushed her aside 

"hey, let me do the interrogating here, alright?" 

He punched the man on the nose and pulled him up "WHO SENT YOU TO KILL HER FAMILY!?"

The McCarty continued to scream in pain 

"I DONT KNOW!" 

John punched him again and pulled him towards him 

"Wrong answer! who sent you?!" 

The man just continued screaming. John dragged him and sat him upright on a nearby crate 

"You're going to talk or I'll make sure that leg of yours disappears completely!"

The man coughed and gasped for air

"YOU CAN BOTH GO TO HELL!" 

Antonia looked down at the bodies in the pit while John continued to beat the McCarty, she got down on her knees and got close to uncover one of them. Tears began to run down her face and she opened her mouth in horror when she saw her mother's face, it had been beaten to the point where she couldn't see her eyes. She covered her mouth with her hands and began to sob. Antonia uncovered the other one only to see her father covered in bullet holes. John turned to her and let the man go as quick as he could. He rushed to lift her away from the sight 

"Hey, hey stay away from that! Don't look!" 

She let out a pained scream and dropped to the ground to sob harder. John turned to the McCarty with gun in hand and shot him in the other leg 

"Who sent you?!" 

The man glared at John. 

"You'll never get me to say anything!!" 

John stopped for a second and looked at Antonia. He silently walked over to pick up the huge stick she had in her hands earlier. He dragged the unconscious McCarty over, making sure the other one had a good view of what he was about to do. 

"You're going to tell me who sent you right now or this is what I'm doing to you next..." 

John swung the stick with all his strength onto the head of the unconscious one. The McCarty watched in horror as John repeatedly beat his comrade's head in, making blood splatter on his clothes and face. Antonia looked up at to see what John was doing. Small splatters of blood landed her face and clothes as well. John caught his breath and composed himself. He fixed his shirt and walked over to the man, who wouldn't take his eyes off him, and pointed the bloody stick to his face. John spoke to him in a low, heavy voice 

"Who.sent.you? Last chance..." 

The man looked at John in terror then back at Antonia 

"ALRIGHT!! It was....it was Octavio....Octavio Reynosa..." 

Antonia froze as he coughed and groaned from the pain 

"Octavio sent us."

A chill crawled up and down her body. She stood up and quietly walked over to him 

"W-what..." 

The McCarty gave her a pained look 

"Your uncle paid us to kill you all..." 

He laughed one more time

"And we're going to finish the job you little bit-!" 

**BAM!** John shot the McCarty in the head, he had heard enough. Antonia couldn't hold the weight of her body and just dropped to the ground again. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. She was in complete shock. John walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. Both sat there in silence.

Antonia stood in front of 3 graves. Lavender flowers covered the wooden crosses. John slowly walked up to her 

"So.... what will you do now? Are you still wanting to go to Saint Augustine?" 

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 

"Yes.... I am going to find my uncle. He needs pay for this...I'm going to make him pay with blood..." 

Antonia pulled out her fathers pocket watch and held it tightly in her hands. John pulled out a cigarette and lit it 

"Revenge is a fool's game. You sure you want to play it?" 

She turned to him with teary eyes

"Yes, but I need help..." 

John let out a chuckle. 

"I have my own problems Antonia, I can't just drop everything to help you" 

He said as he took a drag of his cigarette. Antonia squeezed the watch and took a deep breath 

"John, my real name is Antonia Aguilar Reynosa. I am the sole heir of the Reynosa Oil Company in Mexico. If you help me get to my uncle I promise you, I will pay off all your bounties and will give you enough money to live peacefully with Seline..." 

She held out the watch to him with a shaky hand 

"To keep my promise, I give you the only thing I now have left of my family....if I somehow don't keep my promise, you can sell it...." 

John took the watch and examined it. His face in disbelief as he realized the brand alone of that watch could pay a good amount of his bounties and then some. He looked up from the watch and met her eyes, who were eagerly waiting for his response. 

"But please," she whispered.

"Help me get to my uncle..."

John thought for a moment. A second chance standing right in front of him. An adventure. He nodded as he grabbed the watch tightly in his grip, 

"Alright Miss Reynosa. You have yourself a deal."


	3. Cortez

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Cortez And the Brigby Brothers. Thank you for patiently waiting! Remember to follow my twitter @tumadrekat for more updates as i work and slowly go insane with this

John brushed his horse while he waited for Antonia outside the general store. She needed a change of clothes after the whole exchange at the ranch, blood on clothes didn't exactly look too good. He was checking the saddles when he noticed her come out of the store. She had black pants on with a pair of matching black boots and a red V-neck blouse that was tucked into her pants. Her hair had also been tied up in a loose side bun to keep it out of the way. John walked up to her and handed her a pair of gloves "not bad lady, you look good in pants" Antonia took the gloves and smiled "well, dresses are nice but its hard to ride a horse in them" John nodded and walked back to finish fixing his horses saddle "fair enough. Look, were almost ready to go I just need to write a letter to Seline. Give me 5 minutes." Antonia nodded and got on her horse. She felt uneasy in that town for some reason. It was a feeling she didn't have the day before. She looked around and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, if anything it all seemed like nothing had changed. The fancy speaking man in front of the hotel was having a fit. He went on and on about how things weren't up to the expectations of a certain customer that was staying inside "this is unacceptable! If this gets out to Saint Denis ill never live it down! GO GO!" He pushed an errand boy "go fetch me something more edible for our guest!" He huffed as he went back inside the hotel. Antonia looked up at a hotel window and that's where she saw a dark figure staring at her. She couldn't see their faces very well but she could feel the stare locked on her. The figure stood there and quickly closed the curtains. Antonia had no idea what she had witnessed but it left her with a chill. John walked out and mounted his horse "alright, back to Valentine" Antonia gave him a look "Valentine? Didn't you rob from their bank?" John nodded "yep, I need to go back. Well, at least to nearby. My brother lives out near there and he has something of mine, I'm gonna need it..."

Both rode into a small ranch not far from Valentine. 2 dogs came out to the gate and greeted John as he got off his horse and walked towards the door. He knocked on it and a heavy set man opened it with a smile "JOHN!" He gave him a tight hug. John tightly hugged his brother "hello James, its good to see you" James welcomed him inside "please, please come in! Long time no see brother! Oh and this must be Seline! He wasn't kidding when he spoke of your beauty my dear!" He walked over to Antonia and gave her a tight hug as well, she giggled "im not Seline but its nice to meet you" the man laughed and began to take her inside his home "well then you are still welcome! A friend of John is a friend of mine". The man set out food for them and some jellies "here, eat!" James offered Antonia a piece of bread with jelly that she happily accepted. John went towards the back of the house and pulled out a huge box from under a bed and opened it. He pulled out a whole arsenal of weapons. He checked a long rifle and a black shotgun. Antonia looked in amazement as he continued to pull out more and more weapons "are you going to fight an army?" She asked him as John began to clean some of them "you have O'driscolls chasing you so in a sense, yes". James walked over to John with a grim expression face "John... have...have they returned?" John shook his head and quickly glanced back at his brother "no, and stop worrying about that! I told you, You're safe here. This stuff here is for Miss Reynosa. She hired me to be her bodyguard and she has some gang called Odriscolls coming after her so.." he clicked the rifle and aimed it. James sighed of relief but his face still remained concerned "so you've taken up your old habits again?" John gave his brother a smile "this is business, clearly im doing this to protect the dainty miss here..." Antonia perked up while she took a bite of bread "tu abuela (your grandma) dainty" John turned to her "hey, you leave her out of this or ill shoot ya myself" Antonia laughed "ooooh que miedo (how scary)" John just shook his head and let out a chuckle. James shook his head "does Seline know?" John closed up the box and walked outside with his things with his brother following him closely "yeah, I started to send her letters after the last time. Gives her peace of mind to know exactly what im doing" he rolled his eyes and packed his things on the horse. James turned him around "John, please be careful. I feel like just keeping those things im enabling it all over again..." John put his hand on his brothers shoulder "ill be fine, after this ill have my bounties paid off and have some extra. Ill be a free man soon....and so will you.." James gave his brother a smile "alright. Well hey, at least give me one more night! Stay here and drink! We can tell Miss Reynosa some stories." John shook his head "I cant. I have to take her to Saint Denis as soon as possible but I promise ill stop by once this is done." James wrapped his arms around him and tightly hugged his brother "alright, hurry though, old bessie died and im making beef stew!" James laughed and let him go. His brother John mounted his horse and shook his head "damn shame. That was the one cow I actually liked, oh well sounds like it will be delicious". James smiled and waved at them as he watched them ride off in the distance. Antonia waved back and ate another piece of bread with jam "I like your brother" John quickly took her bread and took a bite out of it "yeah, me too" "eeeeyyy! Ese es mi pan! (That's my bread)!"

 

Rhodes was a dusty town, the people in there also seemed sleepy and odd. Antonia sneezed a couple of times and covered her face with her hands. John smirked "I take it you've never been here before?" She gave him a side eye look "not everyone is a wanderer like you John, im not used to....this..." she said with a disgusted look as a drunk walked around the corner and barfed on himself. John just shook his head and laughed "well, get used to it princess. Theres a lot more things to see that aren't exactly your cup of tea" she gave him a raised eyebrow "princess?" They stopped their horses and dismounted in front of a small yet fancy looking hotel. John hitched both horses and began to walk away "I need to go to the nearby stores, want to come?" She eagerly nodded and sneezed one more time. He patted her head "stay close to me then and don't do anything stupid" he threatened as he pointed a finger at her. She rolled her eyes and walked past him. He walked into the gun store and browsed while a friendly dog outside walked up to Antonia and demanded to be petted, she had to oblige. John took his time and walked out to find her rubbing the mutts stomach "I see you made a friend" he asked as he held a box. She stood up and smiled with a nod "I think he likes me!" she looked down at the box curiously "whats that?" John opened it and pulled out a pistol for her "here, I figured you needed your own gun for, you know, protection" he handed it to her and let her hold it. She held the heavy gun and aimed it at a nearby lamppost. John nodded and crossed his arms "hey, it looks good on you" she lowered her eyes and held it in both her hands "you think so?" And quickly aimed it towards the street. John flinched and lowered the gun "alright killer, don't go shooting anyone trying to show off" She pulled it away from him "I know how to handle a gun" John nodded and turned around "just be safe is all. Oh, I also got you an engraving. Go inside and see what you like and the gunsmith will work on it." He walked across the way and said loudly to her "ill be over here getting some supplies". She gave him a smile and thanked him as she walked Into the gun-store. Antonia greeted the gunsmith and picked out a design that looked nice. She watched as the he began to engrave her new gun. The way he worked on it hypnotized her. There was a sudden sound of more horses riding into town. It made the gunsmith look up and smile "ah, more visitors! You should come more often young lady, you seem to be good luck!" She smiled and leaned on the counter. Antonia continued to observe the gunsmith's work as a tall attractive man suddenly walked into the gun store. His dirty blond hair and beard were dusty from the town. He had pale blue eyes that almost looked white and 3 claw like scars decorated one side of his face, he was an intimidating presence just from the looks of him. The gunsmith greeted him as the man pulled out a picture and slowly turned to give a nod to the two men standing outside. He slowly walked up to the counter, his pale eyes focused on Antonia "well, well, well aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" He spoke with a low deep voice and smiled as he walked over next to her and leaned on the counter where she was "and what is a pretty little thing like you doing in a place like this?" He gave her a charming smile as he turned to her. He made her very nervous. She took a step to the side and tried to create space between them but the man took a step towards her and let out a playful laugh "now, now don't be shy. I wont bite, you from around here?" Antonia's heart raced like it was going to explode. This man scared her so much. She had never felt a presence like his before and those intense eyes terrified her. She really didn't want to upset him so she gave him a small smile and just shook her head "no, I'm not. Im just waiting for something" she gently nodded and tried to ignore him. The gunsmith hurried as he noticed the nervousness in her eyes. The mysterious, terrifying man still tried talking to her "ah, are you waiting for a gun? That's good! A charming thing like yourself should always protect herself" he picked up a box of shotgun shells and examined them as he kept talking to her "do you know how to shoot it? I can show you a thing or two if you want and maybe after we can get a drink?" Antonia took another step to the side and realized the wall was there "no...no.. thank you, I really must be going" she turned her head and looked outside in hopes that John would come back to the gun shop but she couldn't see him, two other tall men dresses in all black with their faces covered blocked the windows. Meanwhile, in the store across the way, John had immediately recognized the horses and snuck around to the back of the general shop. He slowly made his way around with out being seen by the two men in front of the shop and quickly rushed towards the back of the gun shop. He needed to get in there one way or another and get Antonia out as soon as possible before any of those two men in the front saw him! The gunsmith finally finished her gun and walked over to hand it to her but the pushy man immediately grabbed it from his hands and began to inspect it "s-sir that belongs to the lady.." the gunsmith spoke in a shaky but demanding voice. The man smiled and gave him a look as he examined the gun "I'm just making sure you left it set for her is all" he turned to Antonia "I'm sure she doesn't mind" She quickly tried to take it from him but he wanted to tease her and quickly pulled it away from her "hows about this? ill give it back to you if you tell me your name" Antonia had had enough of him and his terrifying face. She looked into his eyes with determination " NO! Now give me back my gun NOW!" she placed one hand on her hips and firmly demanded as she held out her other hand. The man laughed and slowly put the gun in her hand "you're a firecracker aren't ya?! I like that!" She took the gun to quickly put it back in its box and tried to walk out of the gun store but the man grabbed her by the hand and held onto it tightly. Antonia tried to pull it away but he just tightened his grip "please, give this poor enamored fool your name. Let me remember you and give me the comfort that I at least know your name.." he pleaded. He tried to make those terrifying eyes as innocent as he could. Antonia hesitated for a second and turned her head to look outside once more and then back to him. He looked like he would hurt her "...my name...my name is Antonia.." the man's face lit up and held her hand with his "oh, Antonia, such a lovely creature you are! And such a coincidence! I was just telling my friends out there how I was looking for a lovely lady like yourself" he gave her one last charming smile "you see, someone is offering lots of money for you..." and in one swift movement, he suddenly grabbed her by the neck with one hand and lifted her up to slam her on the gunsmith's counter. Antonia screamed in pain as she struggled to break his tight grip from her neck. The gunsmith reached for his gun but the man shot him in the arm before he could get to it "now, now! lets all relax! There's no need for more bloodshed in here." He put his gun back in his holster and swept back his hair. His pale eyes looked down at Antonia as she tried to gasp for air "its lovely to meet you my dear, my name is Alejandro Cortez and you're coming with me" and grinned. John quickly covered his face and suddenly burst through the back door of the gun shop. He shot multiple times at Cortez, making him let go of her to take cover outside with the other two men. Antonia coughed hard and quickly rolled off the counter towards John. She ran out through the back door while John continued shooting towards the shop. She quickly mounted her horse and pulled out her gun as John mounted his. John led the escape and raced towards the train tracks heading to the city of Saint Denis. Cortez walked to the middle of town and laughed "Abraham! Jeremiah! Looks like we got a chase boys! SECO!!" He whistled and a big Belgium horse raced towards him. Without slowing down Cortez ran, grabbed the saddle and jumped to mount his horse quickly "Get the girl! Kill the bastard that's with her!!" He shouted to his posse and the 3 men took the chase after them. John and Antonia rode as fast as their horses could take them. John needed to take her a bit further from Saint Denis and into the woodlands, there they would have a better chance of hiding from their pursuers. John and Antonia had a head start but they could see the men slowly catching up in the distance. John looked at Antonia as he kept the same pace with her horse "jump on my horse!" He shouted and gestured to her. She gave him a crazy look "are you insane??!! Were moving too fast! I'll fall!" She shouted back to him but John grabbed the rein with one hand and stretched the other one back to her "trust me! You wont fall! I'll catch you! I promise!" She hesitated for a second and looked back to see the men getting closer and closer. She looked at John again, his arm still reaching out to her "ay dios mio (oh my god) you better catch me John Jackson!!" She quickly balanced herself on the moving horse and threw herself onto John's horse. He tightly grabbed her until she sat right on the saddle and she was able to wrap her arms around him. John sped up and raced on the train tracks until they made it to Saint Denis. He needed to lose them fast, so he quickly turned and made his way into the streets hoping the twists and turns would help slow them down. People jumped out of the way as they rode through a market and a couple of streets. He made a sharp left then a right. The men managed to keep up but at some point one of them crashed into a wagon. Two left, John thought to himself as he made another turn. He ran through some fields to jump over a fence and pulled a quick stop behind a shack covered in shrubs and branches, a perfect quick hiding spot. The two remaining men passed him, giving John the chance to make his horse run straight through the fields back towards the train tracks. Cortez quickly caught on to his tactic and pulled the reins to one side to make his horse turn and jump over a fence towards the same field. He rode across from the target and slowly made his way towards them. John needed to slow him down somehow. Antonia quickly pulled out her gun and began to shoot at him, making Cortez weave and ride through to a small corn field. "I cant aim but I can keep the bastard away!" John laughed and pulled out a molotov with a lighter. He handed the items one by one to Antonia "light that fucker up when you see him!" He shouted back to her. Cortez managed to make it out of the corn field and back towards them . Antonia quickly lit the cloth and threw it as far as she could towards Cortez. The molotov landed almost in front of him, making his horse stop and panic at the sight of the fire. Antonia and John gained a short lead again. Cortez cursed under his breath and chased after them with both Brigby Brothers finally reuniting with him. They needed to get the girl off that horse one way or another. John finally started to see some forest and dove right into it. The trees started to get thicker and thicker as they weaved left and right through a forest. Antonia closed her eyes and held onto John tightly, she couldn't bear to see. The brothers pulled out their guns began to shoot near them. Cortez pulled out his bow and a couple of a special arrows "bring them to the center boys!" he ordered as he aimed and shot the first arrow. It missed her and hit a tree. John's horse quickly stopped in front of a steep hill but John pushed it to keep going and rode down the drop towards a fast moving river. He needed to cross it over if he wanted to give themselves a chance to escape these men. His horse neighed loudly as it panicked going down the steep hill. John comforted him as best as he could until they finally reached the bottom and began to run across the strong waters. Cortez got off his horse and took this chance to shoot the second arrow. He slowly aimed. Cortez took a deep breath and released the arrow. It flew past the trees and struck Antonia right on the arm. She screamed in pain and fell off just as they were halfway through the river. The current carried her down away from John and her pursuers. Cortez let out a tsk and turned to the Brigby Brothers "track her down.." both men took off like released demons down towards the river. Meanwhile in the water, Antonia coughed and tried to keep herself afloat but her arm suddenly went numb. She panicked as she tried to swim with her one working arm and swallowed a good amount of water as she struggled to keep herself above it. Antonia suddenly smacked her head hard on a sharp rock. Darkness.

Antonia slowly woke up to a hazy night sky and felt like the world was spinning. She couldn't stand up straight and she felt like she was going to throw up. She managed to get up on her feet but walking was difficult. She felt like someone had given her 20 tequilas the way her head was throbbing 'how long have I been out for?' She thought to herself as she kept trying to walk straight. She suddenly heard the voice of a woman call out to her "Antonia.....Antonia....ven conmigo mi amor(come with me my love)" That voice.....It sounded like... like her mother. "Mama??......" she called out as she followed the voice onto a dark empty road. With the light of the bright moon guiding her through the trees. She could see what looked like a carriage and a figure standing in front of it. She shook her head and tried to see clearly but it was no use. The voice kept calling out to her "Antonia....ven, ven aqui con mama (come, come here with mother)" Antonia smiled and walked closer towards the figure "M-mama??" She fell onto her knees. Nothing was going to stop her from reaching her mother and began crawling towards her. Antonia kneeled in front of the figure and smiled, tears started to rain down her from face as she continued to whisper to her "mama....mama como te extrañe...(mama, mama How I've missed you...)". The figure looked down at her "don't worry mi amor (my love), you'll be with us soon.." and raised a gun to her head. It clicked as it loaded the bullet. Antonia smiled as she couldn't understand the danger she was in and closed her eyes. The sound of a bullet echoed through the forest. The figure shrieked and quickly entered the carriage to take off and disappear into the darkness. Antonia tried to crawl after it but John quickly ran over and picked her up off the ground "jesus fucking christ" he muttered to himself as he lifted her onto the horse. He held her tightly in front of him as they both rode into Annesburg. He rented a room in the nearby hotel and let her rest. He sat beside her the rest of the night, cleaning his guns and keeping watch to see if he saw those bounty hunters.

She woke up 1 day later.

She suddenly jolted up and gasped. She cringed when she felt the sharp pain on her arm . John jumped awake and aimed his gun at her but quickly put it back down when he realized it was just her that had woken up. Antonia then realized how bad her arm was hurting! Her arrow wound had been bandaged. He took a cup of water and handed it to her "drink." She took the cup and gulped it down. She had never felt such thirst before in her life "please give me more.." she gasped. He walked over and brought the pitcher and handed it to her. She poured herself cup after cup of water and tried to catch her breath. John sat down on medium dresser and silently observed her. Antonia looked around "where are we? How long have I been out?" John answered "Annesburg, and you've been out for almost 2 days" she coughed as she drank another cup of water "2 days!? What happened!?" He handed her a couple of pieces of jerky "the wound wasn't bad. The small arrow heads aren't meant to kill you just kinda poke you hard" he took a bite of beef jerky "and those arrows he shot you with were covered in a special poison we made. Its meant to knock you out for days and slowly kill you. Luckily I got the antidote" He pointed at 2 small holes on her arm "what bit me?" She asked as she rubbed the little holes. He pointed to a dead copperhead snake on a table. She looked horrified "why...why would?" John explained "because no sane man would ever believe a snake bite is a cure, that's how evil we- those bastards are.." Antonia just stared at him as he continued "but now, I need to know who the hell did your family piss off " she looked at him and gave him a tired mad look "what are you talking about? My family had no enemies! My father was a man who built bridges not burned them!" John rubbed his eyes and crossed his arms "well, someone must really not like you if they sent those men lady...." He turned his head and took a deep breath "those men are bounty hunters....the worst kind....the ones that get hired for taking someone out...." she interrupted "like mercenaries...." John looked at her "yes and someone paid those men money to take you out" Antonia looked down "how...do you know?" John sat down and leaned back into the chair "because I used to work with them. That's how we were able to get away and you not killed" she quietly looked down and whispered "thank you john...I just....it has to be my uncle..." she met his eyes "it has to be him trying to finish the job" . John shook his head "well, we need to find your uncle. Right now he's the only one that can call this off. Those men are wicked in their own way but they've always honored that one rule....if we don't get this called off and they get their hands on you...." His tired eyes gave her a worried look. She took a bite of jerky and sighed "we have to go back to Saint Denis, that's were well find them. He just has to be there, its where we'll find him..." John took a deep breath "then lets hope to god we do."


	4. The Brigby Brothers

One of the Brigby brothers touched the damp soil and pulled out a single strand of long black hair. He turned to his brother and nodded. The twins silently walked towards the road and found the right horse tracks on the path that led to Annesburg. They both turned to Cortez, who was leaning on a nearby tree sharpening his knife, he grinned and nodded "so our little target is in Annesburg huh?" he walked over and gave Seco a pat "let's wait for her in Saint Denis, eventually she'll have to crawl out of hiding and to the nearest city" He turned to give the brothers a look "and the feller with her? Let's make sure he remembers who we are..." The brothers looked at each other with an evil gleam and laughed as he continued "while I go talk to our business partner, get to Valentine quick....and you make sure you bring him back a souvenir..." both Brothers mounted their horses , Sodom and Gomorrah, and like shadows they disappeared through the trees. Cortez mounted Seco and gave him a pat, an evil grin on his face "looks like it's time for a little reunion boy..."

Antonia tried to move her arm but it still felt numb. John walked into the room with some more water and some type of stew. He gave her a small portion that she slowly set it aside "I can't eat...I..." John took a bite of his stew "it's alright. It'll take a least a day for you to get your appetite back. I thought I'd offer." She looked up at him "so....you made that poison?" He nodded as he leaned back on his chair and continued eating "I made a lot of things. That poison, a powder that paralyzes you for 24 hours, a small potent explosive that is full of rock salt. Great for ambushes." She looked down at her arm "but why make something so....evil...." He lowered his plate to look at her "because it was part of a job. Look, I don't claim to be a good man but you have no idea of the sick twisted bastards that are living out in the shadows. The things I've seen some of those bastards do....all of my weapons were justified..." she cleared her throat "and how did you....you know...test your little poisons?" He finished his stew quickly "Cortez always made sure I had plenty of test subjects." She looked up at him "so his name is Cortez? A terrifying name for a terrifying man" she stood up and stretched "he told me he was 'enamored' with me" John laughed and shook his head "that's the real terrifying thing about Cortez, he'll get you to trust him and before you know it you're tossed in a hole 6 feet under with no head. Cortez doesn't love anyone but his job and money, anything else is for his sick entertainment." She walked over to a chair and began to put on one of her boots "and the other two?" he cleared his throat "Abraham and Jeremiah Brigby. Twins cut from the same tree as Cortez and to be honest they're the ones I'm worried about...bastards are like hellhounds when it comes to a target..." she began to put on her other boot as he sat up and watched her "you need to rest, that poison won't be completely out of your system for another day" Antonia shook her head "I don't have time to be resting, I need to find my uncle, or at least know where he is now." He put his hand on her shoulder and looked down at her "please, rest. I'll go out and make sure they aren't nearby. Give me a couple of hours to go look around and ill come back to get you" he pulled out 2 small round bombs and handed them to her "here, if you ever feel like you're in danger, just light one of these up and close your eyes. It'll give you a chance to get out of the area." She took the small explosives "John but-" he walked towards the door and opened it "just give me a couple of hours" he stood there for a second and walked out closing the door behind him. She touched her bandaged arm and sat there for a second and whispered to herself "a couple of hours may be too late...."

John rode around the area. He had made sure the tracks he made led past Annesburg but he had to make sure. He wore his hat low and covered his face in case he somehow rode past them, he needed to be sure he wasn't recognized. He checked the pocket watch Antonia had paid him with. Almost a full hour of riding around and no sign of Cortez or the Brigby twins anywhere "those bastards are up to no good if they're taking this long" he said under his breath as he put the watch back in his pocket and turned his horse towards Annesburg to head back. He couldn't stop thinking about the whole situation. Would all this trouble be worth it for him? Taking on Cortez and the twins wasn't part of the plan when he agreed to help Antonia. His plans with Seline also came to mind. Seline. She would not be happy about any of this. John pulled into Annesburg and hitched his horse. He walked into the hotel when the clerk stopped him "Oh! You're back?! The young lady in the room left the keys a while ago, she said to tell you she was going to find her uncle." John's eyes widened and he quickly grabbed the clerk by the collar "you let her leave?! She's injured!!" the clerk stuttered "I-i-im sorry!! i didn't know i wasn't supposed to let her leave! She seemed fine!" John released him and took a deep breath as he calmed down "how long ago did she leave?" the man fixed his shirt and looked at his pocket watch "almost an hour ago. She made sure to also tell you not to get mad but let me tell you mister, you failed at that!" the clerk gave him a side eye look and went back to his work. John rubbed his eyes. He had told her to wait and she didn't listen "that girl is going to get me killed" he sighed. He gave a dollar to the clerk and took off. Now to find her in Saint Denis.

Antonia walked up to the house Mr. Cornwall had lent them. Everything had been cleaned up like nothing had happened, no sign that they were even there. She went up to the door and knocked. A small older woman opened the door "can I help you young lady?" she asked as looked at Antonia with squinted eyes. Antonia wasn't sure if she would but maybe "is Mr. Cornwall in town? I would like to speak to him..." the lady at the door stepped aside and signaled her to come in "ah! you must be the lady friend he is expecting! Come in! He'll be arriving soon." She guided Antonia to the same room her parents had stayed in "I'm not going to lie to you miss, but you don't seem like the type Mr. Cornwall usually brings over here" she handed her a couple of towels and a robe. Antonia looked confused "Type? I just need to speak-" the old woman shushed her "I don't care what you want to 'talk' to him about. Make sure you take all your belongings when you leave. The last time one of you girls left something here we had to flip the whole house upside down!" she walked out of the room as she kept talking to herself. Antonia sat on the bed and touched the sheets. Her parents had slept in this bed almost 3 nights ago. She looked up and she felt a lump in her throat. She walked over to the pillow and smelled it. Her mother's perfume still clinging on to it. Antonia held the pillow as tight as she could. How much she missed all of them. A man clearing his throat interrupted her moment with the object, making her jump up. It was Mr. Cornwall "Can I help you?" he asked her as she quickly stood up and threw the pillow to the side. He walked up to her and examined her "wait....I know you...you're the daughter of Ernest, aren't you? The Reynosa Oil Company??" she nodded and his eyes widened in anger. He turned around and shouted for the old woman "MARGARET!! MARGARET!! YOU GET THIS GIRL OUT OF MY HOUSE!!" he began walking down the hall. Antonia followed him "WAIT?! why?! I need to speak to you Mr. Cornwall!!" but the man shook his head as he kept walking away from her "NO! NO! GET OUT!" he turned to her "I don't know what kind of foolery you and your family were involved in! YOU COMPLETELY DESTROYED MY HOUSE! MY CASTLE! THE HOME I HAPPILY LET YOUR FAMILY STAY IN!" Antonia was shocked and her blood boiled "WE DIDNT RUIN YOUR HOUSE! We were kidnapped out of our beds! My family was killed!" he walked up to her and wiggled his finger "then you and your family were up to no good! I knew I shouldn't have reconsidered the business deal with that shifty uncle of yours!" he walked away from her while Margaret grabbed Antonia by the arm, which she quickly pulled away from her "You still made a deal with my uncle?! After my family was kidnapped out of here?!" Cornwall turned to her again "Of course I did! I'm a businessman! I DO BUSINESS!! NOW GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!!" he grabbed her tightly by the injured arm and made her scream in pain. He ignored it and pulled her out of the house, shutting the door in her face. Antonia wanted to turn around and shoot up the fat bastard and his stupid house! She backed up and shouted "MALDITO CERDO!(DAMN PIG!) I'm going to get my family's company back and I'll make sure everyone knows of the bastard you are!!" she wiped her face with her sleeve and turned to see a group of people looking at her. She looked at the house then back at the strangers murmuring about her "WELL HE IS!!" she yelled as she walked away from the stupid house. She wanted to cry but held on to her tears. To think that her uncle still tried to make money while her family was being killed made her angry. She will not hesitate to pull the trigger on the bastard now. Antonia walked to the nearby park and sat there for a bit. Now what? She didn't know where her uncle would be and she didn't know where to start looking. Suddenly she remembered her father had said something about him and Teresa owning a house there. If it meant knocking on every single door in Saint Denis, she was going to find him one way or another.

John rode into Saint Denis and now the search for Antonia began. He rode his horse through some small streets and then over to the train station. He described her to a clerk but no luck. No one had seen a girl with that description. He walked out and looked around "how the hell am i going to find her..." he walked down the main street. John thought he had seen her a first time but it turned out to be a small older woman. This was going to take forever. He went over to the theater and thats when he saw him. John quickly hid behind a large woman, who was very pleased to see him "well hello there hansome!" John smiled "well hello there, mind if sit you with you for a bit m'am?" the woman giggled and gave him a wink "i dont mind one bit cowboy!" John looked back over and there he saw Cortez hitch his horse in front of the saloon. Thankfully he hadnt seen him when he went inside. John nodded to the giggling woman and kissed her hand "it is lovely to have sat with you m'am, now if you'll excuse me." He quickly got up and went towards the bar. He slowly snuck in there and made sure he wasnt seen. John looked as Cortez walked to the upstairs part of the bar, where two men stood guard. 'what are you up to you snake bastard' he thought to himself as he slowly walked over to the barkeep. He kept his eyes on the stairs and the men as he ordered a drink "uh, hey there. Let me have a whiskey..." he kept turning towards the stairs as the man poured him a shot. He needed to get up there one way or another without making it seem like he was spying on Cortez but how? He looked around and noticed a couple of ladies looking at him giggling in the corner. John had found his way. He turned to the barkeep "sooo, what does a man have to do for some company around here?" The barkeep called one of the giggling girls over "Enjoy sir, payment is handled with the lovely lady here." The girl wrapped her arms around his arm "lets go upstairs handsome". John smiled as he and the girl walked upstairs past the two men, who nodded at him, and entered a room. The girl sat him down and began to undress herself but John quickly stood up to stop her and gave her 8 dollars "No need m'am, i just needed to get upstairs but i need you to stay here for like 10 minutes. Oh. there's a meeting going on here, which room?" she was confused but nodded "its down the hall, the door on the left.." she stared at him as he slowly crept out of the room. John slowly crept down the hall and stood in front of the door. He could hear Cortez speaking through the door "No we werent able to get the girl, which is also the reason i came to meet with you..." another voice spoke but it was hard for John to understand. It sounded like they were whispering. Cortez continued to speak but it sounded muffled. John leaned his ear on the door and tried to listen as best as he could "you heard me, its either tripled or i wont deliver her alive....you bet your candy ass ill do it...i dont give a fuck if you need her alive....she hired someone and im gonna need extra bullets to bring that bastard down..." John continued to listen but he couldnt make much of it. The girl suddenly walked out of the room and pulled John away "HEY! you need to come back in there or youll get me in trouble! I havent had a customer all day and this isnt enough!" The voices in the room suddenly went quiet. That was John's cue to leave. He rushed down the stairs and quickly made his way out of the bar. He walked out and hid around a corner. He wanted to be sure he didnt make anyone follow him. Out of nowhere a hand touched his chest, without looking he quickly grabbed it and realized it was Seline! "John! are you alright?" John looked at her and softened his grip "Seline?? what are you doing here??" she looked at him confused "i told you in the last letter i was going to be coming over sometime this week for medicine. John are you alright?" she touched his forehead and gently touched his face "no matter, its good to see you staying out of trou-" a familiar voice suddenly interrupted her "John? John Jackson?! is that you?" Cortez walked over and smiled at both "My good old friend! It's been too long!" Seline smiled and held John's arm but John started to slowly put her behind him "we have to go..." but Cortez walked towards him and put his hand on his shoulder "Well? Aren't you going to say hello my friend!? It's been ages since I've seen you!" John stared at him and tried to slowly back away but Seline pushed past him and smiled "John, why are you being rude? This is your friend say hello" Cortez looked at Seline and gleefully spread his arms to greet her "and look at this beautiful specimen you are trying to hide! Que Hermosa Eres! (how beautiful you are!)" Seline held out her hand towards Cortez "I'm John's fiancée, Seline. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr.?" An evil gleam came to his eyes as he slowly took her hand and gave it a kiss "My name is Alejandro Cortez, at your service madam. And where are my manners?! Let me take you both out for a drink! Let us celebrate!" Seline nodded while John's heart beat fast as he began to slowly pull Seline back towards him "no, we really have to get going..." Cortez gave him an evil smile as he gently grabbed Seline's arm and pulled her with him "John...I insist...". Seline smiled and looked at John, unaware of the danger she was in "Oh please John! I am rather hungry, the train ride was very long." Cortez smiled at her as he began to walk with her back towards the saloon "say no more lovely lady, let me treat both of you to a proper meal!". John walked next to her and grabbed her hand to give it a squeeze "stay close to me....please..."

Antonia walked onto the next door. She wished herself luck as she knocked. So many doors, so many snotty rich people. A man opened the door and she asked for her uncle. The man shook his head and closed the door. She sighed. But she had to keep trying. Onto the next door step she went when she looked down the small street and noticed a woman walking down, wearing the same exact dress Teresa wore the night of the Cornwall dinner. Antonia's pace got faster and faster as she observed the woman closely. She tried to see if she could get a look of her face but the woman began to walk faster. Antonia began to run after the woman who also took off and quickly turned a corner. She ran and turned the same corner as the woman but suddenly lost her. She looked around and that's when she saw her Uncle Octavio getting into a wagon further down across the street. Antonia ran towards the wagon "TIO!!" she shouted as loud as she could but she wasn't heard. The street was full of people who were out and about on their way. Antonia tried to make her way across the busy street when she saw him laughing as another man in a suit entered the carriage. Seeing him laugh stirred something inside her. At that moment, she could remember her mother's screams. She remembered her father being beaten bloody. She remembered Cecilia's sobs after Colm had beaten and raped her. She remembered the fear of running alone through that dark forest as killers hunted her. Antonia's heart beat fast and her breaths became heavy when all of those moments replayed in her head. She continued to slowly make her way across the street and called out for him again "TIO OCTAVIO!!" and once more, it was ignored. She could feel her soul burning as she called out to him one more time "OCTAVIO REYNOSA!!" This time he had heard and turned towards her direction. Octavio Reynosa saw as his niece pulled out a gun and began to shoot at him repeatedly. He quickly ducked onto the floor of the carriage and covered his head. People screamed and panicked as they ran away from her. The Brigby brothers saw the commotion just as they were riding into town and rode towards it. Abraham and Jeremiah Brigby saw as Antonia reloaded her gun to keep shooting at the carriage. Jeremiah looked at Abraham and quickly rode off further in the city to find the meeting place. Police began to blow their whistles, coming closer and closer. Octavio's driver finally grabbed the reins and took off like a bat out of hell away from the shooter. Antonia wasn't going to lose him again and ran after the carriage. She quickly un-hooked a big white shire from a nearby carriage and took off on it after her uncle. The anger she felt at that moment made her unaware of everything including Abraham Brigby, who was on her like a shadow .

**10 minutes before**

Seline ate and drank happily. Cortez smiled at her and John. John stared hard at Cortez, keeping his hand close to his gun. Cortez called out for a bottle of whiskey that was quickly brought to him by the bartender "There, There John, you seem so tense! Here, let's have a drink! Just like old times, old friend..." and he slowly poured John a shot of whiskey. John wouldn't take his eyes off him "No..." Seline nudged him and whispered to him "John please! where are your manners?" she tried to lighten him up a bit but John didn't feel like socializing with Cortez, not one bit "I don't need manners with this man..." he spoke in a low voice and made Cortez laugh "you were always so serious John. Come on! Live a little. Lets celebrate your engagement..." he pushed the drink towards him but John would not take it. Cortez smiled and took the shot of whiskey stirred it in the small glass "well then good sir, if thats what you want then let's talk serious. I'm sure you'd like that" Cortez downed the shot of whiskey he had poured for him "so John...where is she? Where is my bounty?" John's eyes widened as he quickly stood up and smacked the table. The saloon went silent. Seline loudly whispered "John, what is the matter with you?! And what is he talking about?!" Cortez let out another chuckle and looked at John "you haven't told her? Now John, secrecy is never a good thing when you're trying to start a new life with your lovely bride-to-be here...." Seline had a confused but angry look on her face as she turned and looked at John. Cortez poured himself another shot "well your fiancé here miss, is trying to protect a bounty of mine...a girl that is worth a lot of money..." Seline looked at Cortez then back at John "A Bounty?? The girl you helped has a bounty and you're....WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Seline was furious. She was fed up with this. She was fed up with John's recklessness. She stood up from the table and walked towards the door. John tried to stop her by reaching out to grab her hand but she pulled it away from him. Seline was gone. A wicked laugh came out of Cortez as he raised the shot of whiskey and downed it "to the lovely couple!" That wicked smiled crept back onto his face "Alright now you listen to me and you better listen to me good Johnny boy, you have 2 options here. Option 1. You give me the girl, I let you go scot free. We leave you alone and give you enough time to get the hell out of the state. Now, option 2. I take the girl, I kill you and I let the brothers loose on that pretty flower of yours. You know how the brothers love to pluck those pretty flowers..." John could feel his blood boil as he stared into Cortez's eyes "if you touch a single hair on her..." Goddamn demon. He wanted to shoot the bastard then and there but it would cause too much attention, the wrong attention on him. John put his hands on the table " and you think...after what you bastards did to me...I'm gonna trust your options? How about, fuck you Cortez...". Cortez slowly got up from his seat without breaking eye contact when the sudden sound of gunshots in the distance and people running down the street screaming made them both turn to look outside. They were all running away from a woman shooting up a wagon. John and Cortez walked out of the saloon when Jeremiah Brigby rode up to them and gave Cortez a sign and nod 'we found target'. Cortez turned to John "Take the first option John. This is the only time I've ever offered it to anyone...you know that..." he walked down the street towards his horse Seco and slowly rode over to Jeremiah. Jeremiah chuckled as he untied a bloody sack off his horse to throw it at John's feet. Cortez smiled "Oh that's right! The brothers here wanted to give you a gift, John. A little something to remind you of who you're trying to fuck with...." Cortez and Jeremiah laughed as they both rode away together to find Abraham. John looked down and slowly picked up the sack. His hands trembled as he opened it and looked inside....The blood that boiled in him quickly froze as he recognized its contents....Staring back at him was the head of his brother....the bastards had killed James....


	5. Tia Teresa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5: Tia Teresa is up and ready to read! In this chapter you can learn more about How and why Cortez and John hate each other and how wicked Cortez and Brigby twins really are!

Antonia stayed close behind the carriage. She was going to kill her bastard uncle then and there. The driver swerved left and right trying to avoid people and carriages as they tried to escape. She couldn't see her uncle; the coward must've still been taking cover on the carriage floor. Antonia continued to shoot and tried her best to aim at the driver. The anger blinded her from everything around her, including Abraham Brigby. The bounty hunter stayed close to her and made sure to keep her in his sights. Cortez and Jeremiah rode up to catch up to him. Cortez grinned to both brothers as they kept a close distance behind her "why don't we have some fun boys?" he sped up his horse and caught up to her and pulled out his gun from his holster. Horror struck her as she realized he was next to her with his gun drawn. Cortez pointed the gun at her horse and with two shots to the head, the poor beast went down. Antonia was thrown hard onto the unforgiving ground. She groaned in pain and looked down the road as the carriage escaping with her uncle disappeared in the distance. Jeremiah lassoed her to slowly drag her through the mud and deeper into the marshy swampland of Lakay. Cortez and Abraham chuckled at the sight. Antonia growled and wiggled herself loose. She got up on her feet and pulled out her gun to try and shoot Jeremiah but Cortez quickly rode up and kicked it out of her hand, sending it flying into the mud. He shook his head and grinned "tsk tsk, that's not how we play here little girl..." he teased as the 3 of them laughed. Antonia tried to run towards where her gun had landed but Abraham quickly jumped off his horse and ran over to kick her down into the ground. An evil grin formed on Cortez's face "now, now Abraham don't break the little lady. We need her in one piece otherwise we won't get paid." He said as looked down at her. Antonia slowly got up onto her feet. She wiped the mud off her face and tried to charge at Abraham but he backhanded her back down to the ground. She looked up at the three men with anger burning inside her. She wanted to kill them as well! It was their fault her uncle had gotten away from her. She stared at them and tried to work out her situation while Cortez savored the look in her eyes. He loved seeing the fire in the eyes of their captures and this girl definitely had that fight in her. Oh, how he loved those who tried to fight back. Those fights of desperation, anger and even despair. An evil twinkle shone in Cortez's eyes as he hopped off his horse and grinned while he slowly walked over and rubbed his hands "come to think of it, I'm sure our contact wouldn't mind us taking a couple of souvenirs from such a stunning creature, now would they...." Antonia's eyes widened in horror as Cortez and Abraham walked towards her with malicious eyes. She tried to crawl away but she stopped when Jeremiah hopped off his horse in front of her and Abraham quickly grabbed her by the hair to pull her up on her feet. He put her in a headlock and held onto one of her arms so she wouldn't try to fight while they carried out their cruel game. Jeremiah walked over and held onto her legs so she wouldn't try to kick away. She wasn't going anywhere. Cortez sheathed his knife and yanked the free hand towards him and held onto it with a tight grip "I'm sure you'll be ok with 7 fingers, I mean, it's not like you'll be living long with them anyways." He looked into her terrified eyes as she growled and frantically tried to set herself free from the men. Cortez gave her hand a kiss "such a shame too, you have such lovely hands...." Her heart felt like it was going to explode from fear. Antonia screamed as she felt him put the cold blade on one of her fingers. Everything suddenly stopped when someone shouted out from deeper in the swamp, "LETS GET HER BOYS!" and bullets began to fire at them. It was a surprise attack from the Odriscolls! Cortez ducked behind a nearby fallen log and Abraham quickly dragged her behind a tree, making sure he protected her with his body. Jeremiah began shooting at Odriscolls that began to run out to the open. Cortez began to fire back at the attackers and shouted as he reloaded his gun "who the hell are these idiots!? KILL THEM ALL!" He glanced over to Abraham and gave him a hand signal. Abraham quickly called his horse over and pulled his lasso off it. He threw Antonia down onto the ground and hogtied her to pick her up over his shoulder. Antonia could hear bullets flying by her as Abraham stowed her up onto his horse and pulled out a rifle. She began trying to undo her binds and could hear horses approaching, it was O'driscoll reinforcements. Cortez and the Brigby twins continued to hold them off and killing as many as they could. An a stick of dynamite was thrown near the bounty hunters. They managed to jump away from the blast but the explosion spooked the horse Antonia was stowed on and ran away from the gunfight. It ran past the O'driscoll's on horses "THERE SHE IS! GO AFTER THAT HORSE!" One of them shouted as they turned their horses and chased after her. Cortez looked at the Brigby Twins as they continued to shoot and shouted "These bastards! They're trying to take the girl!! After her! SECO!!" The big Belgium horse ran towards Cortez and let him and Abraham hop onto its back. Jeremiah rode as fast as he could and started shooting them off their horses. Abraham continued to whistle for his horse in an attempt to call it back towards them but it wasn't much help, it had been scared beyond recognizing his master's whistle. Meanwhile Antonia kept trying to undo the ropes. She needed to get off the damn horse, it was getting harder for her to breathe. She looked down at the ground and decided to roll herself off of it. Antonia closed her eyes and took a deep breath and rolled off into the mud again. She managed roll herself away from the O'driscoll horse hooves that came dangerously close to trampling her. Mud covered one of her eyes making it hard for her to see. One of the Odriscoll men jumped off his horse and quickly ran towards her to pick her up over his shoulder and ran back with her as fast as he could to one of their horses. Antonia was beyond irritated of this stupid capture game "LET ME GO!" she shouted and slipped a hand out of her binds. She grabbed the man by the hair and pulled as hard as she could. He screamed and fell down with her. She tried pulling herself away but the Odriscoll grabbed her loose hand and tried to pick her back up again. She clawed his face a couple of times while he tried to get a grip on her. Cortez and Abraham jumped off his horse and began shooting at the incoming enemies, keeping them away from their bounty. Jeremiah rode around with a bow shooting poisoned arrows. Cortez turned and pointed towards Antonia "SECO! ARRASTRA!(DRAG!)" and the big brown Belgium horse ran towards Antonia and her captor. With his teeth, he grabbed the Odriscoll by the arm and dragged him off away from her. Antonia rolled herself onto her back in the mud. Her face covered in mud, she couldn't see but keep trying to untie herself while Cortez and the Brigby twins continued to fight. Antonia needed to get away fast. She was finally able to get her other hand free and quickly sat up to untie her feet. She was free! Antonia wiped her face with her sleeve and got up to try and run away from the fight but Cortez's horse ran back towards her. Seco neighed and trampled furiously in front of her and began to kick anything that came near. Antonia tried to run around him but the big horse turned and kicked her right in the stomach. Antonia fell back in the mud gasping for air. She laid there for a while and tried to catch her breath. She had been kicked by horses before but damn. Cortez turned to Abraham "Kill all of these bastards! I'm gonna get the girl!" the Brigby brother nodded as he pulled out his 2 pistols and continued shooting. Cortez grabbed his lasso and ran over to where Antonia was. He grabbed her arm and tried to tie her up but she wasn't going to be tied up again without a fight! She had grabbed a big rock within her reach and hit him in the head with it as hard as she could. She quickly got up to run as Cortez fell on one knee and shook his head trying to regain his balance from the blow. "YOU LITTLE BITCH!" he growled and ran after her. She ran and slipped a couple of times but Cortez tackled her and turned her to pin her down "you've got some fight in you don't cha?!" he hissed and looked at her muddy face. He laughed at her attempt to struggle with him "keep still now!" He grabbed her neck with one hand and grabbed her hands and pushed them down on her chest. He examined her face as he began to tie up her hands again "look at that fire burning in your eyes....I can't wait to rip them out of your skull..." he let out a boastful laugh that was suddenly interrupted when John jumped out of nowhere and tackled Cortez off of her. John grabbed Cortez by the neck and began to strangle him "YOU KILLED MY FUCKING BROTHER! YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!" John was going to kill him then and there but the bounty hunter had other plans. Cortez pulled his knife out and stabbed John twice on the side, making John release him and giving Cortez the chance to kick him off. John fell back and quickly tried to get on his feet as he put pressure on the stab wound with one hand "after all these years, you're still a snake bastard Cortez!" Cortez walked over with his arms open "what can I say John, you already know how much I hate to lose. I'm surprised you still haven't learned from it all" Cortez laughed "you should've taken my offer Johnny boy. A shame too. I hate to put old friends in the grave..." John stood back up and put up his fists "that hasn't stopped you before Cortez, but this time im just gonna make sure it'll be me digging up yours in the end" John charged at him and smacked the knife out of his hand. He saw the chance and punched him in the stomach repeatedly. Cortez blocked one of the blows and head butted him, when John staggered Cortez gave John a kick in the chest. Cortez pulled out one of his revolvers to shoot him but Antonia jumped onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly trying to choke him. Cortez reached over his head and grabbed her by the hair. She screamed as he pulled her off of him and threw her on the ground to kick her on the ribs. John charged at him again and punched him twice on the face and then uppercut him down to the ground. John turned to Antonia making sure she was alright while she got up. Cortez laughed as he slowly stood up again. John slowly backed up and placed Antonia behind him as he noticed Jeremiah and Abraham making their way over with their guns pointed at them. Cortez swept back his hair and wiped off the mud on his shoulder "Oh John. John, John, John. This is a game you're not going to win. Make this easy for yourself and give me the girl...." John stared at all 3 men. He could take on Cortez but now the twins involved made this complicated especially with Antonia. John needed to get her out of here. He slowly reached for his gun but Antonia placed her hand on his to stop him "who sent you?" she walked up from behind John "ill go with you if you tell me". John had no idea what this was "what are you doing?!" he whispered to her as she slowly began walking towards Cortez and the Brigby Twins. The men chuckled. Cortez sighed with a smile "ah, smart girl. unfortunately for you, I don't give out that information but don't worry you'll find out soon enough once you come with us or i can tell you right before I slit that pretty throat of yours..." She suddenly stopped "too bad, that's not gonna happen any time soon" Antonia quickly pulled out the small blinding explosive John had given her in that Annesburg hotel and threw it at Cortez and the twins. The white smoke completely devoured them when it went off. "ARGH! GOD DAMN WHORE!!" Cortez cursed as he and the Twins tried to blindly walk away from the smoke. Antonia ran back and grabbed John's hand "RUN!!" She shouted and both of them ran towards the road. John laughed and looked at her as they continued running together. This girl was truly something else. They reached a fork in the road. John and Antonia looked down both roads, now what? Bullets began to bounce near them as they looked back to see Cortez and the Brigby twins shooting at them. Cortez couldn't see well but he was sure as hell going to kill her now, one way or another. They kept running further down when they noticed a carriage speeding down the road towards them. It slowed down next to them and swung its door open "ANTONIA GET IN!!" It was her Aunt Teresa! Antonia quickly jumped inside the carriage with John behind her. Once inside, the carriage sped up and left the blind bounty hunters in the dust. 

 

"Antonia!" Teresa cried out with a smiling sob and hugged muddy Antonia as tight as she could. Teresa examined her through tears and made sure she was there and not her mind playing games "I can't believe it! I found you! Thank the heavens!" Antonia smiled and hugged her aunt tightly. She seemed to not know what Octavio had done, maybe it was a good thing. Teresa sobbed "ay Antonia! After that night I didn't know what happened to you or the rest! Those men were animals! Where is your family?" but before Antonia could answer Teresa looked over at John who was clearly in pain and noticed the stab wound "AY DIOS!! You're bleeding?!" Antonia quickly turned to John. She hadn't noticed he had gotten stabbed in the fight! She quickly tore off one of her sleeves and pressed it on the wound to stop the bleeding "John! Why didn't you tell me you got stabbed?!" she gave him a worried look. John chuckled and coughed "it's gonna take a lot more than a stab wound to get rid of me, remember that...besides, you gave those bastards a good run for their money and this makes it all worth it...." Antonia looked into his eyes "John...i'm sor-" but Teresa shouted to her driver "HURRY TO A DOCTOR!" 

 

Antonia sat beside John's bed while he rested. After a couple of stitches and some chloroform, he would be alright. Teresa walked into the room and put a gentle hand on Antonia "let him rest, i will have someone by the door in case he wakes up. Come, let's get you into a bath and some clean clothes". Antonia nodded and walked out of the room with her. Teresa had brought them to a ranch of a close friend she had borrowed outside of Rhodes, it was too dangerous to go near Saint Denis. Teresa held Antonia's hand as they both slowly walked down the hall of the manor "I'm sorry about your family my love. They were very good people.... None of them deserved what happened to them..." Antonia looked down and nodded "i know..." Teresa stopped and opened a door to a master bedroom. She gently sat Antonia down on the bed and walked over to a huge walk in closet "luckily for you, my friend here also rides horses. She has a-lot of lovely rider outfits and she's just your size!" Tia Teresa pulled out 3 different frilly rider outfits and set them on the bed for Antonia to pick. Antonia looked down at them and shook her head. Teresa went back in and pulled 3 more outfits, each of them more frilly than the last. Antonia looked down at her hands and mustered up the courage "Tia Teresa...I saw Tio Octavio in Saint Denis..." Teresa put back some of the outfits and gave her a smile with a confused look "yes, he had some business there. Oh,He will be so happy to see you again darling!" Antonia wished she could feel the same excitement as her aunt "Tia...I need to know where he is..." Teresa walked back into the closet "what for? He'll be back in a couple of days you should stay with me until he comes back and we can celebra-" Antonia cut her off "Octavio is the one that sent my family to be killed!" Teresa dropped the outfits she had pulled out. Her face in complete shock and disbelief "wh-what?" Antonia continued "i managed to track one of the men that kidnapped us and... and he told me the one who had paid for us to be killed was Octavio...." Teresa shook her head and placed her hands over her mouth "n-no. no that cant be...your uncle...he loved your family...he loved your father...why would he?" she sat down at the news and shook her head. Antonia looked at her as she made a sudden realization. Teresa began to cry and turned to look at Antonia "Antonia....it makes sense...his sudden interest in the company....his mysterious trips....when you and your family were taken he...he went over to speak with Cornwall the next day...he said it was to help your father and find help but i just never thought he would...." Teresa sobbed and ran over to Antonia and hugged her tightly "Antonia im so sorry....i just...i didnt know.." They held each other for a while until Antonia pulled away "Tia, i need to know where he went to. I need to find him, he needs to give me an explanation.." Teresa cried and got up "Antonia. I cannot tell you with a clean conscience where he is. You have anger in your heart...and i still love him...what if you.." Antonia walked up to her and held both of her hands "Please tia! i will get on my knees and beg to you if i have to!" Antonia got down on her knees and pleaded to her aunt "please tell me where he went, i need to at least know why he sent for his own brother and family to be killed the way they were...why he sent bounty hunters after me to kill me.." Teresa's eyes widened "bounty hunters?! AY DIOS MIO! Is that who you were running from?" Antonia looked up into her eyes and nodded "and unless i get him to call it off, those men will find me and do god knows to me...please tia...im begging you..." Teresa looked down at Antonia and then closed her eyes. She couldn't bear to see her beg like this but she also couldn't let her surviving niece be killed viciously after the hell she had already gone through. Teresa took a deep breath and managed to speak through her sobs "he said he would be traveling down to Mexico in 3 days. I think he is going to go find the deed of your family's oil company and everything else..." Antonia's tears rolled down her cheeks as she continued to hold he aunts hands tightly "Tia teresa....thank you..." Teresa smiled through her tears "but please...promise me you'll bring him back alive....that you'll let him stand a trial...please, please promise me Antonia...." Antonia thought about it for a second. Her uncle was a cruel man for what he did but it took a-lot of courage for her aunt to tell her where he was heading, despite all he's done to her. She was going to do it for her aunt.. Antonia nodded "i promise tia, i will bring him back so he can stand trial". Teresa closed her eyes in relief "thank you." Antonia slowly got up and wiped her tears with the muddy shirt. She walked over to the bed and picked up a black rider outfit "i like this one tia" Teresa smiled and wiped her tears with a handkerchief "take it, its yours now.."

 

The morning was cold. Antonia said her farewells to her aunt and headed with John back to Valentine to bury his brother. They had found a massacre in his little home. Even the dogs had been ripped apart viciously by the Brigby twins. Those men were truly evil in human form. John placed a couple of final stones on his brother's grave and let out a long sigh. He sat in silence for a while, his life had been full of regrets but this one would definitely live with him forever. Antonia walked over and placed some flowers she had picked for his grave. "I should've stayed to have that drink with him..." John chuckled, His smile quickly faded and he looked down. Antonia looked at him and rubbed his shoulder "John....you didn't know..." she softly spoke and tried to comfort him but he shook his head and looked down at his hands "it was a matter of time. When you do evil for so long....life has a funny way of coming back to bite you hard.." Antonia shook her head "i don't think you're evil and even if you were you don't deserve this....I'm sorry John..." He looked out towards the rising sun. It had been a while before he truly took in its beauty. Both of them silently stared at the sight. Antonia hesitated for a second but finally asked him "What happened between you and those men? You said you used to work with them but now you all snarl at each other like rabid wolves" John kept his eyes on the sunrise "we are rabid wolves. I was just kicked out of the pack and not by choice..." he cleared his throat "we...we all met during the war. Cortez and I became friends with the Brigby brothers. All 4 of us we... we were infantry brothers. We fought together and saw things during the war that should never be seen by anyone but that was what made our bond strong" he spoke low and cleared his throat again "After the war we ended up with nothing but each other....so we started robbing and killing....and to keep ourselves out of suspicions from the law we became bounty hunters. By day, we would hunt bloodthirsty criminals and by night we became the same bloodthirsty criminals we hunted and each time we just became more and more bloodthirsty but something in Cortez grew more and more wicked. We would kill a lot of people. Some deserved it but they were many that didn't. Until one day, there was a bounty for a man named Joseph Miller...."

_Cortez, John and the Brigby Brothers stood in front of the small house "COME OUT JOSEPH! YOU COMING WITH US DEAD OR ALIVE!" John shouted as he loaded his gun and aimed it at the door. The wind blew strong that day but the tension of that moment could be sliced with a knife. The door of the small house suddenly opened and a woman holding a baby stepped out crying. John lowered his gun as he listened to the woman cry out "please....please sirs let him go. He just wants to be with his family!" A man stepped out and tried to push her back in the house "Mary! Go inside with the girls please!" The woman continued pleading to the bounty hunters "NO! They cant take you! You did nothing wrong! Please let him stay with us!" John looked at Cortez, who didn't take his eyes off the family. John looked back at the family and saw 2 small little girls walk out to grab their father's leg. The man frantically tried to get all of them back inside the house "please! You all have to stay, i don't want you to get hurt!" the man pleaded to his family but all they wanted was mercy for their father so he could stay. John couldn't bare to see the pitiful sight and turned to Cortez "Cortez we should let him go, I mean, the man has a whole family. The bounty for him ain't even worth it" Cortez slowly looked at John, his cold eyes examined his face "why would we want to do that? After all we worked to track him? You wanna just let him go?" John nodded "i think we should give him a chance to set his life straight, and if he doesn't then ill come myself and take him in" John turned to the family, who eagerly awaited the fate of Joseph. Cortez had an evil gleam in his eye, he grinned and slowly nodded "alright John, I understand.." John took 3 steps forward and raised his hand to show them a gentle wave "alright Joseph, were gonna let you go but if you don-" Cortez snapped his fingers and one of the brothers quickly knocked John out with the butt of his rifle leaving him unconscious. Cortez grinned as he led the Brigby brothers towards the house, knives in their hands and wickedness in their hearts. Screams echoed through the night._

 

John took a deep breath "when i came to...Cortez and the brothers were gone. I thought they had just taken him and left the rest of the family alone but when i walked into that house...it was something out of a nightmare. They....decapitated Joseph to take his head and....they butchered the little ones....all 3 of them...just torn to pieces... and his wife, his poor wife...they had tied her naked body on the edge of a table....her breasts had been.... cut off and her organs had been pulled out of her body and her eyes ....they were nowhere to be seen..." Antonia put her hands over her mouth in horror. She couldn't believe that such evil existed in the world "Im-im so sorry John" John shook his head "i carry that with me...Cortez...the Brigby Brothers....they aint right..." He rubbed his eyes "and the punishment for my sins, is that I remember their faces...all of their faces.." Antonia looked at the grave and tears began to roll down her face. John finished his story " and thats my final bounty...when i went into a nearby town that day the sheriff tried to arrest me. Cortez had told them that in a fit of rage i had massacred that whole family. I panicked and ran. My face was plastered all over the state. Since then, ive been doing what i know...killing and stealing to survive...." Antonia gently threw herself and held him as tight as she could making sure she didn't hurt him "Im so sorry..." The random act caught him by surprise. He didn't know what to do but slowly wrap his arms around her as well. No words were needed, only the breeze whispered in that moment. 

 

Cortez sat in the bathtub of the saloon they were staying in. With a glass of whiskey in his hand, his eyes stared intently at the fire that roared brightly in the room. There was a knock on the door and an attractive woman walked in with more clean water. She smiled at him "oh my, aren't you a handsome one? i sure got lucky today" Cortez sat in silence. He wouldn't take his eyes off that fire as he took a sip of his whiskey. It bothered him a lot that a bounty got away from them not just once but two times. That girl. She was a slippery little snake. How she managed to get away twice angered him. He remembered the sight of Antonia while he had his hand wrapped around her neck. He should've squeezed it tighter and killed the little nuisance then and there. The woman walked over to Cortez and began to rub his shoulders "why don't we get you to relax there handsome? You seem so tense. Here, let me help you clean yourself." She grabbed a cloth and dipped it in the warm water. The woman began to gently rub it on his chest then his arms. She slowly worked and enjoyed every second of it. She began to gently clean his face "look at that face. Is there a lucky gal out there waiting for you?" Cortez took a large swig of whiskey, his cold eyes looked into the glass "No, no there isnt...." The woman smiled "well then, hows about you leave me with your memory handsome? Let's get you out of that tub and into a room..." Cortez turned and looked at her. In his mind, that woman looked like Antonia. He smiled at her and slowly put down his whiskey. He gently reached up to touch Antonia's face "aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" he softly spoke to her with a faint smile. Antonia giggled "oh, handsome and charming? i'll think i'll actually enjoy this..." Cortez nodded and looked into her eyes "oh, i seriously doubt it.." and he suddenly grabbed the woman by the collar of her dress and pushed her head down into the water. The woman flailed her arms desperately as she tried to pull herself out. Cortez looked her struggling and took a deep shaky breath. He closed his eyes but as much as he wanted it to be Antonia , it just wasn't the same. After a couple of seconds of holding her head in the water, he let the woman go. She fell back with a gasp and coughed up water "YOU FUCKING PSYCOPATH!!" she yelled as she quickly got up and ran out of the bathroom. Cortez reached back for his whiskey and took another swig. Abraham walked in laughing at the sight of the woman as she ran out. He handed Cortez a letter and let him read it. Cortez smiled and looked up at Abraham "looks like our contact wants us to follow them to Mexico for protection" Cortez laughed "who would've thought a little girl would send them into such a frenzy" Abraham silently looked at Cortez and nodded "they still want us to bring her alive too" an evil gleam shone bright in Cortez's eyes "its really a shame. Accidents tend to happen out in the road, isnt that right Abraham?" Abraham laughed and slowly walked towards the door "make sure you tell Jeremiah and get yourselves ready. We have a long trip ahead of us and we have a train to catch..."


	6. Home

_Antonia ran through the dark forest. She weaved through the trees trying to get away from the shadows chasing her. A clearing in the thick woods shone some light through the trees. She could see a mound of some kind in the opening as she walked towards it. The sound of growling and flesh being devoured made her slow her pace. Antonia saw the three wolves feasting on what seemed like a body. The smell of the blood lingered in the air as she slowly walked up to see get a closer look on what they were eating. The wolves turned their attention to her and bared their blood covered teeth. Antonia could see the half-eaten body of another wolf on the ground. Two of the wolves charged at her and knocked her onto the ground as they ran past her and disappeared into the darkness of the forest. The last wolf slowly walked towards her. Its eyes fixated on her neck. She closed her eyes as it lunged itself at her but it vanished into thin air. Antonia opened her eyes and looked around. The body of the dead wolf caught her eye as it seemed different. It wasn't a wolf anymore...it was John...._

 

John looked at the blank piece of paper. He didn't really know what else to tell Seline anymore. When she left that saloon in Saint Denis, he could tell she finally had it with him. Maybe it was for the best? She had already put up with him and his impulsiveness for almost 3 years now. John looked out towards the lake from James's little shack and took in a deep breath, maybe it was time and best to let her go. Even if it was to spare her the pain of seeing his dead body if Cortez somehow managed to win. John began to write his letter. Antonia walked out of the little shack and stretched. He quickly glanced at her as she sat down next to him and looked out towards the lake "I can tell why your brother liked it here. It's beautiful." John nodded as he continued to write "yeah, he was a man who wanted to live a quiet life....in a sense I envied that..." Antonia turned to him "to live a quiet life? why would you envy it?" John stopped writing and looked at her "because not everyone is born into a life of fancy living lady. Out here life is different from what you're used to." Antonia shook her head and rolled her eyes "I am well aware of that. But you don't obtain a simple life robbing and killing people..." John chuckled "I was young and reckless" she turned to him "and I didn't have a say to where I'd be born". He stared out back towards the lake and slowly smiled as he nodded in agreement "you know what? That is a fair point, i apologize" and continued to write. John loved to try to get under her skin but she was a snappy little pistol. He enjoyed that. Antonia looked at his hand as he wrote "I'll be going to the post soon would you like for me to take that?" John shook his head "I'll be going as well, I have to check to see train tickets" she patted her legs and stood up to walk towards the horses "I'll get the horses ready then". John suddenly stopped and called out to her "hey, hold on a second. I want to tell you something I should've told you earlier" he looked up at her as she walked back over to him "alright? Im listening". He thought for a second "after Cortez shot you with the arrow and I went to find you down that river...there was someone with you there...." Antonia crossed her arms and looked down. Just what she needed, another person that wanted her dead. He cleared his throat "I scared them away. I couldn't tell who or what it was but I needed to tend to you first and they were gone so fast..." he went back to writing his letter "that's all I wanted to tell you. Just thought you should know." Antonia nodded and looked at him "thank you John..."

The mail office was busy. The clerks had their hands full to the brim with work and people trying to get mail and/or train tickets. Antonia and John walked in and tried to look for an empty clerk but in all the commotion it seemed impossible. Antonia stood on the tip of her toes and tried to look over the crowd. She turned to John "how are we going to get train tickets now?" John looked at her and smiled "oh, I know a guy. Follow me" he pushed through the crowd and Antonia closely followed. John suddenly stopped in the middle of the post office and pulled out his gun to fire 2 shots in the air. People began to scream and run out as fast as they could when they heard the gunshots. Antonia covered her ears and gave him a confused look "are you serious!?" John chuckled and walked up to the now empty clerk window. The clerk looked up at the ceiling "GODDAMN IT JOHN! I've told you to stop fucking doing that!" Antonia walked up to the counter with a face of disbelief, she couldn't believe this man! "he's done that before!?" The clerk looked at her "this is the fifth time he's done it!" He rubbed his temples and took a deep breath "well....at least it gives us a little breather before people decide to come back..." he leaned on the counter and gave John a tired look "What can I do for you John?" John handed him his letter to Seline "I want to mail this to Blackwater. I also want 2 tickets to Mexico. One will be one way and the other round trip" Antonia and John observed as the clerk put the letter in a basket and opened a book to examine its writing "Mexico...round trip...one way...that'll be...85 dollars." John blinked and shook his head "god damn robbery is what that is!" The clerk gave him an exasperated sigh "hey! It's what helps us fix the roof so stop your complaining!" John gave him a look and reached into his satchel. He searched for a bit and realized his money bag was gone! John looked at Antonia as he continued to frantically look "where is it!?" She looked at him and shrugged "what are you talking about?" John put the satchel on the counter and pulled everything out "my money bag! It's not here!" This was bad. All his savings were in that bag! Antonia looked at him as he searched "I left everything untouched in there, I don't know what you're talking about. Maybe you dropped it?" He then remembered! John realized he must've left it in that saloon in Saint Denis when he went spying on Cortez! That demon brings him nothing but bad luck. "Goddamn it!" He slammed his fist on the counter and walked away to try and cool off. He was beyond irritated with himself. Antonia looked at him as he grabbed his side "John please calm down. It's not good for your injury..." she reached out to him but he instinctively pushed her hand away "that doesn't matter, we don't have money. How will you get home? How will you pay my bounties if you're still here?!" Antonia took a step back from him and looked down "I will pay for your bounties. Don't you worry about that..." she looked up at him "there is always a solution to every problem..." Antonia turned around and walked towards the clerk and leaned on the counter "you all seem pretty busy, want to hire some help in exchange for those tickets?" The clerk thought about it for a second but they definitely needed the help and he wasn't about to turn it down. He nodded and handed her 4 mail bags "Alright, get all of these delivered and come back to me. I'll get those tickets ready for you."

Antonia and John silently rode together as they delivered almost all of the mail. Antonia hadn't spoken to him almost the whole trip except for the occasional checking up on his wound. At some points he even tried to strike up conversations with her but she kept her answers short. Had he upset her? He didn't think he had said anything to upset her. He really did want her to get back home. Antonia hopped off her horse as they finally made it to the last addresses. A familiar sight for Antonia as it was the giant oil rig she had ended up in when she hopped on the train to escape the O'driscolls. She walked through and searched while John closely followed her. She had found the first one, then the next almost instantly "one more letter and we can go back for those tickets!" she spoke to herself happily. John stayed close behind her as she walked up to deliver the last letter. Antonia quickly recognized the home of the kind woman she went up to when that train conductor rudely kicked her off the train. She knocked on the door and was surprised to see a boy no older than 8 answer the door. He had a bruise on his face and wore a shirt too big for him. Antonia smiled at him "is your mother home?" The boy shook his head and reached out for the letter. She slowly handed the boy the letter but something about this bothered her "are you by yourself?" she asked. The boy hesitated but he somehow trusted the kind looking girl and shook his head. Two much smaller children walked up to the door. John walked up and could feel her concern "where's your momma boy?" John asked as the boy looked down "daddy came home drunk....he and the bad men took her up them hills....they been gone almost a day now...." John gently reached to the little boy's face and examined the bruise "your daddy the one that did that to you?" the boy just slowly nodded. John turned to look at Antonia. Her face showed concern for these kids and he could already see in her eyes that she wanted to help them. Those doe eyes. John nodded and turned to get on his horse "which hills they take her?" The small boy pointed towards the direction. John nodded "alright, ill be back" he looked down at Antonia as he mounted his horse "stay here, keep an eye on them. I'm going to look for their mother" Antonia walked up to him "I'll go with you!" John just shook his head "too dangerous, just keep these kids safe. I'll be back shortly. I promise." She grabbed onto his pant leg "but you're injured!" John gently removed her hand "I'll be fine. Just listen to me and stay here. Please. If anyone comes back to hurt them they'll have no one here to protect them" Antonia nodded and backed away from the horse "just please, be careful. Don't leave me alone... " John looked down at her and smiled "I won't. I promise." 

John slowly made his way up the hill. The horse prints had started to vanish but he was able to track them down. He reached their camp but kept his distance and used the scope of his rifle to observe them. He saw the mother of the children. She sat beside a wagon wheel with large bruises that covered parts of her face. John turned and looked where the four men were sitting. His plan was getting the woman out of there first. So if they fired at least he'd have a better chance protecting her if she was close to him. John made his was over as quietly and stealthily as he could. John was now close enough to get her attention and signaled her to follow him. The woman looked up and without questioning her savior, she crawled over to him as fast as she could. "Who are you?" She whispered to him. He put his finger up to his mouth and just began to guide her away but one of the men stood up and noticed she was gone! The men quickly saw them and began to shoot. John and the woman ran down the hill. John stopped and pulled her down behind some tall rocks "stay here!" he ordered as the woman nodded. She stayed low and covered her head from the bullets. John pulled out his revolvers and took a deep breath. He waited for the right moment and quickly stood up, aimed and fired both his guns BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! The gunshots died down when three men fell to the ground. John quickly walked up the hill to find the fourth but he had run off "yellow bellied bastard...." John spoke to himself as he went back down the hill towards the woman. He helped her up on her feet and whistled for his horse "lets get you home to your children ma'am".

Antonia played with the children and made them something to eat. She found some herbs nearby and cooked some soup with a duck she had caught with them. She was finally able to get the little ones to sleep and was relieved to hear a horse arrive out in the front of the small home. Antonia walked to the door and suddenly froze. What if it wasn't John? What if it was Cortez and the Twins that had found her? She grabbed her gun and held onto the door handle. She put the gun behind her back and slowly walked out the door. Such a relief when it turned out to be John and the woman. "You're back!" She ran over to greet them. The woman looked closely at Antonia and smiled "oh child, is that you?" Antonia smiled and nodded "you showed me kindness ma'am and I never got to thank you" The woman hugged her tightly with tears in her eyes. She quickly turned to hug John as well "you've thanked me more than enough....you both saved my life! thank you!! thank you so much!!" The woman walked towards the house and her three sleepy children all ran to her eager to hug and hold their mother. John and Antonia looked at the sight then at each other. Antonia smiled at him "You're a good man John Jackson" John showed a faint smile and turned his head. That's when he saw the fourth man riding towards him with a machete drawn and aimed at him. John quickly turned and grabbed Antonia to jump out of the way with him. John landed on his wound and writhed in an unbearable sharp pain "shoot him!" He shouted as he looked up at Antonia who was on her knees. Time seemed to have slowed down for her. She saw as the man jumped off his horse and ran towards them with the intent to kill them both. She stood up and pulled out her gun to aim it at the man but she couldn't pull the trigger! The man suddenly looked just like Cortez! Fear paralyzed her. The seconds seemed eternal. John shouted again "SHOOT HIM!" Antonia snapped out of it and shot the attacker right in the throat. The man fell hard and landed face down onto the ground. John let out a deep breath and relaxed a bit. The pain was still enough to keep him on the ground. The woman had run inside with her children. When she saw the dead man on the ground she walked out, keeping her kids from coming outside. She approached the dead body and just looked down at it with tears in her eyes. The woman slowly turned to Antonia "I have some gold you can sell, its all yours but please get the piece of shit away from here. I don't want the children to see their father like this..." Antonia shook her head "keep your gold ma'am, its enough to know you and your little ones will be ok" Antonia softly spoke to her and walked over to John. He had his arm rested on his face "you hesitated." He said as he took a deep breath. Antonia kneeled beside him and tried to help him sit up "I'm sorry..." she whispered "i....he....it looked like Cortez and....fear got the best of me..." John held his side and slowly got up on his feet with Antonia's help. The woman hugged them one last time and bid them good luck on their journey. They both loaded up the body onto a horse and took it out to a nearby cliff that overlooked a river. John looked down as the dead body was carried away by the current and slowly sank "Don't show fear. Cortez and the Brigby Twins, they're just men. They can bleed and die just like we can. Its just a matter of luck and so far, you've been pretty lucky." Antonia looked out the distance and smiled "my father taught me to break wild broncos, you think three men are going to scare me?" John nodded "I better not see you hesitate again, out here...that's instant death..." Antonia nodded. He was right. She needed to stop being afraid of them once and for all. Those men wanted to hurt her and she wasn't going to give them the pleasure of seeing her being afraid of them. Not anymore. John and Antonia silently stared into the river as the body completely disappeared in the current. In the distance they could both hear the whistle of the train as it arrived in Valentine. John gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder "lets go get on that train and get you home." 

 

The sound of the trains engine roared that whole night through Mexico. The sun had yet to rise and John was already trying to make himself numb as he drank from his flask while Antonia cleaned his wound. They were able to find seats in the first car away from everyone to give them a bit of privacy. John could already feel the alcohol working but he needed more. He stared at Antonia as she began to wrap him with a clean bandage. She was very careful not to hurt him and smiled when she finished "there! All cleaned and wrapped" John drunkenly smiled at her "you know, you're a really smart girl?" She blushed and smiled "well, my father was very big on education and you're just saying that cuz you're drunk." John shook his head "no, I mean it. You've been able to outrun Cortez and the Brigby's not once but twice!" He laughed "also that thing with the smoke bomb! Genius! I loved it!" Antonia stared at John. She liked it when he smiled. There was something sincere about it. John sighed "you're quite the adventure. You'll make a man really happy one day" she looked down at her hands and smiled "you know, I was engaged once..." John sat up interested in her story "what happened? You kill him?" Antonia laughed "I didn't kill him. My father and his men had caught a beautiful wild Bronco we named Malvado (Evil). The poor fool wanted to impress me and broke into our ranch one night to try and break the horse on his own. Our men heard the screams and rushed over to Malvado's area and when they got there the horse had already trampled him to death" John shook his head and blew out air "poor fool indeed, I would've just snuck in your room and..." he stopped himself and looked at Antonia. Her doe eyes eagerly awaiting to hear what he wanted to say, "and what?" She asked as she leaned in closer. John just went in and gently touched her face to pull her close to give her a gentle kiss. Antonia blushed and pulled away "John..." she hadn't expected that from him. John looked up at her as she stood up and walked away from him. Damnit. Antonia walked through passenger cars to find the fourth car. It was open and she definitely needed the fresh air. She had a lot to think and worry about. The wind felt nice as she reached the open car. The starry night looked beautiful. Even the stars shone brighter closer to home. She looked out to the distance with thoughts of John just racing in her mind. What about Seline? What happens if John decides to leave? Would he even stay if she asked? A small smile came to her face as she gently touched her lips. Should she ask him to stay? A sudden thud behind a large crate nearby interrupted her thoughts. Antonia walked towards the crate to investigate what had made the sound and turned when she heard the angry neigh of a horse. The dark figure of a man slowly stood up and walked from behind the crate. She let out a panicky whisper as she immediately recognized him "Cortez!" Her eyes widened in horror as Cortez removed a bandana from his face and slowly walked towards her. The moonlight illuminated his cold eyes "well, hello there moon child..."Antonia gasped and tried to run back towards the passenger car but Abraham and Jeremiah jumped down from the top of the train car to block her way. She backed up and pulled out her gun. Antonia quickly turned and aimed it at Cortez, who found the sight hilarious "aww look boys. The little girl thinks she has a chance. How adorable." Antonia thought of John's words as they laughed at her 'Don't show fear.' Cortez slowly walked up to her while Abraham did the same from behind. Cortez smiled menacingly as he spoke through gritted teeth and a slow deep voice "so this is what's going to happen. You're coming with us wether you want to or not and I'm going to show you what hell on earth really is" he pulled out his knife and waved it around "BUT before I do that I'm going to watch the Brigby Twins violently-" **BAM!** Cortez screamed as Antonia shot him in the leg and rushed to run past him. Abraham and Jeremiah chased after her "GET THE LITTLE BITCH!!! BRING HER TO ME!!" Cortez ordered as he quickly tore his shirt to tie around his wound to stop the bleeding. Antonia ran and dropped everything she could on the way. Crates, suitcases, caged animals, anything that gave her a chance to run further from them. She realized she was running out of train when she made it to the last open train car. Antonia looked around but the train moved too fast for her to jump off it. She turned and aimed her gun at the Brigby Brothers as they got closer and shot at them. They took cover but continued pushing through. Antonia took deep breaths but the sudden click of her gun made her panic. She ran out of bullets! The twins realized this and charged in faster to capture her. Antonia backed up and pulled out John's last letter to Seline from her bag. She didn't want John to let Seline go and took the letter when the clerk put it in the basket while John searched for his money bag, the same money bag she had pulled out and hid in her satchel. "Stay back or ill tear the deed to pieces!! Isn't this what you want?!" She shouted at them in hopes they would believe her. The brothers froze and looked at each other. Cortez furiously walked past them and quickly backhanded her to the floor. John's letter flew away as Cortez grabbed her by the neck tightly and dragged her to the edge of the moving train. He slapped her hard a couple of times and dangled her over "I SHOULD KILL YOU HERE AND NOW!!" Cortez shouted while Antonia screamed and closed her eyes. He furiously pulled her back and released her to take a violent deep breath. Antonia sat up and wiped the blood from her mouth as she coughed. Cortez walked back towards the train car he entered from to try and compose himself. He walked to the other end and paced back and forth. If he got close to her he'd murder her for sure and he wanted to get paid for the little rat. Jeremiah pulled out his lasso and walked towards her to tie her up. Antonia crawled back as far as she was able to when her eye suddenly caught something moving on top of the train car behind the twins. It was John with a stick of dynamite in his hand! He turned and saw as the train began to pass a bridge with a drop to a huge lake. Perfect. John lit the fuse and threw it between her and the twins "JUMP!" he shouted at her. Antonia and John both quickly jumped off the train dove right into the lake! The dynamite exploded just above them. Antonia swam up and gasped for air "JOHN!" She called out. Panic overcame her when she didn't hear a reply. John suddenly swam up and gasped for air next to her "you ok?" He gasped. Antonia nodded "yes! Let's get out of the water!" Both John and Antonia swam to the shore. They both laughed as they caught their breaths "do you think I killed them??" John chuckled as he looked up to see the fiery smoke chug along in the night away from them. Antonia threw herself onto John to hug him tightly "you have the best timing!" John wrapped his arms around her and took her hand to help her out of the water "Just doing my job Miss Reynosa. Now come on, let's get you out of here." They both waddled over to a road and were able to hitch a ride from a gentle farmer and his family.

They were dropped off in a small lively town that was not too far from the Reynosa Hacienda. A half a day ride to finally reach her uncle Octavio was all they needed to do now. With Cortez and the Brigby Twins dead and out of the way John was able to breathe a little easier. They immediately walked into a small saloon and ordered a couple of drinks. John and Antonia drank shot after shot of whiskey, not caring about their wet clothes as they celebrated the death of the bounty hunters that had hunted them relentlessly for the last couple of days. Antonia looked down at her shot glass "I'll definitely miss you John....it'll be a lot quieter when you go back..." John turned to her and poured himself another drink "I'm not going back." Antonia's heart skipped a beat and looked as he poured. She pushed her glass towards him to get a refill "why's that? what about your life? Seline?" John poured into her glass and shook his head "I had no life back there. Sure, my bounty would've been paid but my brother is dead. Seline would probably not take me back. It's about time I let her go. Who knows, maybe she'll find a proper man that'll give her the peaceful life she deserves and since I'm always getting myself into trouble..." Antonia nodded and giggled "you really do John Jackson. What will you be doing out here?" John downed his shot and took a deep breath "I don't know yet. Maybe go off and get to know the area a bit better. Go get into some more trouble..." Antonia slowly put her hand on his "then....stay with me..." John took her hand and gently kissed it. He smiled at her "and what will you have me doing here?" She drank her shot of whiskey and looked into his eyes "you can be my head of security. With a strong, intimidating man such as yourself no one would come near me. If they do, then think of it as a life of adventure." John leaned in close and gave her a playful smile "oh yeah? And what's in it for me?" Antonia slowly got up and gently pulled his arm, her alluring eyes inviting him to follow "come with me and ill show you...." His heart raced as she led him to a room and closed the door behind them. Whiskey kisses filled the room as the sweet sound of serenade music played nearby. The sunlight displayed a hue of colors as it gently rose above the beautiful Mexican countryside. Truly a beautiful morning as the skies of her country welcomed her home.

After the explosion, the train had stopped completely. The conductor held a lantern up into the darkness as he investigated the blast zone. The last two cars had unlatched completely. The conductor walked over to the first car and found pieces of crates all over the place. He looked carefully into the darkness and found a body. Abraham laid motionless under the rubble and upon closer inspection the conductor noticed half of his head was missing, leaving the inside of his skull exposed. The conductor continued to look around. He squinted as he noticed another man moving and slowly waving an arm at him, it was Jeremiah. The conductor walked over to get a better look and help the man out but someone crept up from the shadows and snapped his neck. The conductor and lantern both fell on the ground, shining some light onto Jeremiah's blood covered face. He reached out to the dark figure as it limped around to pick up the conductor's gun. "Help....me....brother..." he whispered to Cortez, who stood above him with a cold stare. The blast had completely blown one of Jeremiah's legs off, sealing his fate. Cortez lifted his gun and aimed it at Jeremiah's head "forgive me brother but....you'll only slow me down..." Jeremiah whispered something to him before the sound of two shots echoed in the night. Cortez twitched as he looked back towards the lake and wiped the blood off his brow. "You killed my brothers little girl....You'll pay for that..." he spoke to himself. The sound of people panicking in the passenger cars made him limp away to a nearby road. A lonely rider greeted him but was shot in the head instantly. Cortez mounted the dead man's horse and rode off into the night as fast as he could towards the location of his contact. He needed more men and more bullets. This wasn't over. No way in hell was he going to lose. Not to a bounty and definitely not to John. Never again.


	7. Octavio Reynosa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FInally.....Enters her uncle

The room was warm.

The light of the sun crept through a window. John ran his hands through Antonia's long black hair. He silently admired her as she slept. She truly was a second chance for him. John didn't want to drive her away the same way he did Seline. He wanted to be a better man for Antonia. He gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead and gently removed her off his chest to get dressed. He quietly walked out of the room and towards the town for a bit. Lovely vendors approached him to sell him fresh fruit and flowers. John smiled at them as he purchased a small bouquet of lovely red flowers and continued to explore the town. He could hear the sound of church bells not far from him. John walked towards the sound as school children laughed and ran past him. This was such a beautiful town to him. He would love to stay in a place like this, or at least nearby. It reminded him of home. Another group of schoolchildren walked by him and a familiar voice called out to him "You know, this was the first town my father built a school in?" John turned to be greeted by a smiling Antonia "if you wanted a tour, you could've just asked me. I know this town pretty well." he walked towards her and shyly handed her the bouquet "I didn't want to wake you. Thought I'd go on a little adventure before we left." She closed her eyes and smelled the flowers "how did you know I loved carnations?" John pulled out his box of cigarettes and put one in his mouth "I didn't. They just reminded me of you, you're both different from the other flowers" he lit the cigarette and held out his hand. Antonia reached for him when the voices of children walked towards them "SEÑORITA ANTONIA!" They all called out to her and surrounded her happily. Antonia smiled and hugged as many as she could "es un gusto verlos a todos otra vez! Como han crecido todos! (Its so nice to see you all again! How you've all grown!)" John laughed at the sight and followed as the children began to pull her away. The school teacher smiled and ran to hug her as soon as she saw her. John sat down on a nearby bench and just observed her as he smoked his cigarette. This girl had gone through hell and back, yet she still managed to bring joy everywhere she went. This included him. In reality, John had robbed that bank in Valentine in hopes that he'd get killed by those sheriffs. It was an act of desperation, not necessity. He couldn't live with the demons that gnawed at his soul anymore and then, the strangest thing happened. His demons were suddenly silenced when this girl came out of nowhere and threw a cabbage to his face. John just laughed at the memory. Antonia walked back over to him and took a carnation from her bouquet "did you know, that carnations are good luck?" She broke the stem off and slipped the flower in his pocket "when my parents were young, my mother would tell me she would put a carnation in my father's pocket every time he went out with his men. It was to bring him good luck and he always came back to her unharmed." She sat down next to him and stared at the church. John nodded and turned to her "your family. They sound like they were good people." Antonia looked down and smiled "oh, they were..." she played with her hands and looked up "Cecilia. She wasn't my blood but she was my sister. We grew up together and learned so much together. We got into trouble together....and my parents...they were people who had a vision for a better world. People who wanted to just spread kindness where there wasn't...." Tears began to swell in her eyes "and it hurts me so much to remember how they each died...they didn't deserve any of it..." John put out his cigarette and gently held her "I'm sorry Antonia...I really am..." John whispered and wiped a tear from her face. She held his hand on her face "I'd give anything in the world to see them again...to hold them one last time..." John gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead "it may not be now but you'll see them again. The tribe that raised me had a saying 'when you die, your soul goes to where you most desire'. I'm sure you'll see them again" Antonia looked into John's eyes and smiled "thank you..." she wiped her face and stood up "lets go get something to eat, I want to hear more about that tribe of yours." John stood up and took her by the hand "or we can go back to the room and..." Antonia playfully smacked him "oh no señor! You want more then I better have a ring and wedding!" John laughed "you weren't saying that when we were in there a while ago..." Antonia continued walking "Adrenaline and whiskey is a hell of a combo and besides my mother always said men were like horses, give your favorite a sugar cube and they'll follow you for a long time" she looked over her shoulder to give him a smile. John nodded and followed after her "damn right they will..." and the day continued on peacefully. John had waited for Cortez and the Brigby Twins. The sun had started to set and there was no sign of them. He had really killed them. Something inside John's mind felt at ease. He turned to look at Antonia as she smiled. _A second chance...._

The day had been kind to them. Dreading having to leave they finally set off towards the Reynosa Hacienda. They rode all day, with breaks in between until they finally reached it in the dark night. A countdown began in Antonia's head as they both silently rode in together only thinking that soon she'd be face to face with her uncle. The same uncle that sent for her and her family to be killed by Odriscoll's. She asked herself the same questions. 'What will happen? Will her uncle be there? Will he have an ambush prepared for them?' just raced in her mind. John was also concerned for her. She had asked him to stay behind as she went in to talk to him and he really wasn't sure what to expect. Something inside him told him to convince her to not go. He never even saw her uncle and felt like she was riding into some sort of trap. If this man had sent ruthless bastards like Cortez and the Brigby Twins after her, he would definitely try to hurt her. Antonia slowed down as the sun set in the horizon and stopped on a hill that overlooked her childhood home. John was amazed when he saw how big it was "holy shit, you live here? Are those....orchards?? How many orchards did you people have?" Antonia looked closely. A worried look visible on her face "its empty...." John turned to her "what? Are you sure?" Antonia nodded "everyone is gone" she continued to look and noticed everything was dark except for a room in the main house. He was in the library. John looked at the manor and back at Antonia "look, I don't think you should go down there" he turned his horse around "something tells me this isn't right. I feel like it's a setup" he hopped off his horse and walked over to help her down. He looked into her eyes "Antonia, Forget all of this. Runaway with me instead" he pulled out the pocket watch and held it up "we can start our own lives and grow our own orchards and..." she placed a gentle hand on his chest and quietly shushed him "I'll be fine. If my uncle was a killer, he would've done it already with his own hands. So far, I've only seen him hiding behind killers. The ones you killed, remember?" John shook his head "this just doesn't feel right..." she grabbed his hands "I know but I need to know why he sent for us....my family suffered so much...I want to know why..." Antonia put the watch in his shirt pocket and smiled "besides I know you'll be there to save me if anything goes wrong. So far that's all you've done. You deserve so much more..." John just shook his head and looked down at the Hacienda. He could already tell he wasn't going to change her mind "if anyone's done any saving, it wasn't me." he softly spoke and gently placed his forehead on hers "I'll be close. Please be careful..." 

 

Antonia walked through the dark corridors of her home. The many happy memories she would no longer have because of him only made her angrier. She wanted to shoot him as soon as she saw him but she had promised Tia Teresa she'd take him back to face trial instead. Antonia hated that it had come to this. Her own goddamn family. Her heart beat fast as she got closer and closer to the library. She stood in front of the door for a while to take a deep breath as she slowly opened the heavy door. The fireplace roared bright and the smell of a cigar lingered in the air, Antonia stepped in carefully and looked around. No one in sight. She walked in a bit further and was startled at the sound of the door suddenly closing behind her. She quickly turned to see her uncle Octavio as he stood in front of the door and slowly walked to her "I'm so happy to see you made it out of that nightmare safe and sound" he gave her a smile and gestured over to a chair. Antonia shook her head. Her uncle just put his hands together "I'm sorry Antonia. At least we'll have each other to mour-" Antonia aimed her gun at him "don't you dare speak of mourning when you're the one that caused this..." Octavio gave her a pained look and walked closer to her "Antonia please! Let's just talk. There's no need for any crazy violen-" she shot a round on the floor making him jump up and quickly back away. "Don't come any closer" she warned and made sure to keep a good distance from him. He raised his hands to show her no harm "Antonia listen to me...whatever is going on...it's not my fault..." Antonia scoffed "what do you mean it's not your fault? Then why did that Odriscoll tell me you were the one that sent for us? Was he lying?!" Octavio began to move a little more nervously "in a sense...yes... I did have O'driscoll's take you all but killing wasn't in the plan!" Oh, how she wanted to pull that trigger. "LIAR! They tortured us!! They raped my mother, Cecilia and almost me!! They beat my father to the point that he couldn't stand!!! My father loved you! He gave you all he could to help you and Teresa!" her voice echoed through the empty corridors. Octavio nervously shook his head and panicked "I KNOW HE DID! I DIDN'T ORDER THAT! I DIDN'T WANT THAT! I just wanted them to scare your dad! I wanted them to keep you all for a day or 2 and I'd come to save you all!!" Antonia just shook her head in disbelief. He looked down "All i wanted was to gain your father's trust again after....well, I asked him for something a couple of years back......" Antonia's hand tightened on the gun "after what? TELL ME!? I swear ill-" Octavio slowly drifted his gaze towards Antonia and smiled "after I asked for your hand..." Antonia gave her uncle a confused look "you asked for what?!" He gave her an unhinged stare "you had just grown into such a beautiful woman and you were so talented, so smart. I just wanted to be the man of your life, to keep the Reynosa bloodline pure. Some of my Lemoyne friends told me it was ok there too but I made the mistake of telling your father how I felt about you. He immediately kicked me out of the ranch. Antonia, why do you think I had moved to Saint Denis?" Antonia looked at her uncle in disgust "Tio, you. You held me as a child...How could you...." He put his hands on his face. He closed his eyes and shook his head "please don't look at me like that! I am already tormented with my brother's death! I didn't want any of this to happen!" Octavio grabbed his hair and paced back around the room. Antonia didn't know what else to say as he broke down in front of her. Her feelings for him had changed. She felt pity and sadness for him. The man she once knew growing up was nothing but a stranger to her at that point. Did he really not know what had happened? Octavio managed to regain his composure and let out a shaky whisper "I didn't order them to kill anyone....i loved my brother....i loved our family....I loved you Antonia...." He slowly turned to her "I still do! I even left your aunt for you!" he continued and walked towards her "I want us to be together. We can be our own happy family!" Antonia shook her head and took hold of her gun with both hands as she slowly backed away "You sent bounty hunters after me! You tried to have me killed you psychopath!" she spoke with rage in her soul and sadness in her heart. Octavio gave her a confused look "bounty hunters?! I would never want to hurt you!" he observed her with a crazy stare as she walked around a table "no one would ever hurt you! I would read you poetry, I would hire the best sweets baker for you! I would do anything for you!" Octavio grabbed the table and flipped it over out of the way. "STAY BACK!" Antonia shot at him and froze when she saw the bullet had gone through his stomach. He screamed and fell to the ground. He shuddered with pain and slowly got on his knees. Her uncle began to laugh. The type of laugh that sent chills through anyone as to how disturbing it was. He looked up at her "no one would be in our way..." her face showed fear and disgust "you're crazy!" he laughed and leaned forward as he cringed in pain "Mi Antonia, who do you think got rid of that boy you were going to marry?" He pointed at himself with a bloody hand and nodded. Her eyes widened in horror "I was the one that told him about Malvado but that pathetic fool got scared... s-so I pushed and locked the idiot inside the stall. That horse basically did the work for me!" Antonia couldn't recognize this man; this man wasn't her uncle. All of this was insanity. Pure insanity. He stood up again and limped towards her holding his stomach. The wall stopped her from getting any further away from him. There was no option. She had to kill him. "STAY AWAY!" Antonia shouted as he continued talking "But you're here now. You. You and I, we can continue the Reynosa bloodline. Pure and-" she jumped as a bullet suddenly shot through his head from the side and dropped to the floor. John slowly walked into the room with his rifle. This son of a bitch was full on crazy "holy shit..." He whispered. John looked at her and then the body, he was glad she was ok. Antonia ran to John with tears in her eyes. He held her and pulled her away from the dead body as she tried to process everything "He...I...John..." Antonia couldn't breathe. He comforted her and gave her room to settle herself down "you need to calm down, alright? Here, drink this.." he gave her his flask. Antonia held it and took a huge swig. She closed her eyes and tried to compose herself as she felt the fiery liquid go down. John looked down at the dead body, yeah the bastard was dead but one question still remained "if he didn't send Cortez and the twins, then who did?" John and Antonia turned when the sudden sound of a gun clicking stood in front of the door. Tia Teresa slowly walked into the room with two strange men, who had rifles aimed at them. Teresa looked down at Octavio's dead body with a disgusted look " You got off easy, estupido. Oh well, at least you both saved me the trouble. I was planning to kill the pervert sooner or later" One of the men walked over and took their guns. The same man then took Antonia by the arm and roughly pushed her down to her knees! "HEY!" John shouted as he punched that man away from her. The other man rushed to hit him hard on the back with the butt of his rifle. John dropped to his knee and tried to get up but he was forced back down when one of the men aimed his gun to Antonia's head. Teresa just smiled as she looked at both of them "well, how sweet! Isn't this the man you hired? I've heard some things about him, one being that he was hard to kill" she nodded "I should've hired him instead! Oh, well at least you saved me the trouble of not paying those bounty hunters!" She laughed and turned to pour herself a drink. John could see the fire in Antonia's eyes, she looked like she wanted to set her on fire. Teresa removed her coat and threw it on a nearby chair. She sat down and took a sip of her drink "Now tell me, where does your father keep all his important stuff?" Antonia slowly shook her head "It was you....all of it...." Her aunt gave her a smug grin and threw her hands up in the air "Surprise! You never saw it coming, did you? What did you think of my crying? Pretty convincing right!" she crossed her legs and smiled. Boiling blood rushed through Antonia's body. This whole time she had been chasing after the wrong person. The one person she thought she could trust was the one that wanted her dead. Antonia growled "WHY?! Why would you do this?!" Teresa stood up "Why do you think?!" she turned to Octavio's dead body and threw her drink at him, sending glass everywhere "We lost everything because of this stupid idiot! And to add salt in the wound he tried to throw me away like I was NOTHING!" She turned and walked over to Antonia "all because he wanted you..." her voice a low, sinister whisper. Teresa walked back over to a desk and leaned on it to try and calm herself "men are pathetic" she whispered. Antonia quickly stood up and a man wrapped his arm around her neck to hold her. John tried to fight the man but was hit on the back again before he could even turn his head. Antonia growled "So you had my family killed!?" Teresa slammed her hands on the desk "YES! I wanted you dead! I wanted the money I rightfully deserved! I especially wanted your bitch of a mother to SUFFER!" Antonia wanted to tear her apart! "I trusted you!" But Teresa just laughed at her words "That was your mistake not mine. Your luck ends here, mi amor. Tell me where the deed is or ill have them shoot him" One of the men pointed a gun to John's head. Antonia panicked "No! Let him go! He has nothing to do with this!" Teresa scoffed "this bastard? He shot a gun out of my hand, right when i almost had you! Im not going to just let him walk out of here" Their faces in shock as they realized she was the shadow from that night by the riverbank! Teresa walked over to John and gently touched his face "Even Cortez needed extra.... convincing, when he realized this one was involved. I should've definitely hired you instead" she turned back to Antonia "Now, tell me or he dies." Antonia looked at John and thought. As much as she wanted to not give this witch the satisfaction, she had no choice. She didn't want John to get hurt anymore. Antonia sighed deeply "its....its in my father's office, in a safe....ill show you...." Teresa smiled. She gestured her to lead and followed closely. They all walked down the hall towards her father's office and slowly walked inside. Antonia walked towards her father's desk and opened a secret hatch behind his chair. Teresa could see her pull out stacks of paper and some jewelry "oh! Give me that necklace!" Antonia looked down at her grandmother's necklace and handed it over. Teresa took it to one of her men and had him put it on her. Antonia took the chance and grabbed the gun her father stashed in his safe to shoot the man guarding John. John quickly tackled the other one down for his gun and Teresa ran out of the room. Antonia chased after her but quickly turned back around when she noticed a group of 5 men running her way. John caught up to her "Where do we go?!" She looked around and quickly grabbed his hand as she took off "Follow me to the stables!" She guided him through the corridors of her home and stopped when they saw a couple of men looking for them. John took a deep breath and began to shoot at them. He slowly got them one by one as they made their way to the stables. Antonia ran to open the stall with the fastest horse her family owned. They both quickly mounted and Antonia raced the horse out of there as fast as it could go. John held onto her waist and aimed his gun behind them in case they were followed. A couple of Teresa's men chased after them and began to shoot. John shot back and realized he was running low on ammo "we need to lose them quick!" He shouted and kept shooting with what he had left. Antonia knew that but where would she take them? She quickly led them through a small patch of forest and zigged zagged as fast as she could. The bullets ricocheted off the trees and a couple of the men crashed. Antonia suddenly remembered of a river nearby! The river had a current so strong, no one could ever cross it and make it out ok. She decided to take the risk and rode towards it. If they didn't make it across at least it would wash them away from the danger. They would die either way if she turned back now, there was no more safe options. The horse went faster and faster as the men continued to shoot at them. In the distance, Antonia could see the gleam of the river in the moonlight. John shot another man dead. The last man chasing had ultimately decided he didn't want to die and quickly turned his horse around. John laughed as he tightly wrapped his arms around Antonia's waist "you're the luckiest lady in the world right now!" Antonia and John smiled as they rode away from the danger and got closer and closer to the river. Freedom. A new life. The possibilities were endless! 

 

The moon suddenly hid behind the black clouds as the darkness camouflaged the danger. In the shadows four riders saw them as they made their escape. A smile came to the face of one as he pulled out his bow and special arrows that he set on fire. Cortez and three other men suddenly rode out from the shadows and slowly approached the unsuspecting duo that tried to make their escape. There was a wide grin on his face as he rode next to them and pulled the arrow back "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU"RE GOING?!" and shot a fiery arrow at Antonia's horse, hitting it right in the neck. The horse went down hard sending John and Antonia flying towards the river. John quickly tried to protect Antonia by wrapping her in his arms but before he could pull her towards him, they both landed on the ground and rolled off until a boulder stopped them abruptly. For a second, she could only hear the sound of the angry river behind them. Antonia felt light headed and quickly tried to get up when she heard John groan. She crawled over to him and tried to sit him up "john...I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry you were involved in this..." John just coughed a couple of times and tried to keep his focus on her. Antonia looked at John then turned to see the men making their way over. Cortez jumped off his horse and slowly limped towards them. His cold eyes locked on his target "Oh father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing..." he spoke to himself as he slowly loaded his gun. Antonia looked back at John with sad eyes "John just go! Its me they want ....please go...get out of here...please..." John tried to touch her face but she crawled away from him. Antonia slowly stood up and raised her hands in surrender "y-you win! Cortez...you win...ill go with you..." John tried to get up but his body wouldn't allow it, the pain was too much "antonia...don't..." he gasped as he saw her walk towards the men and that demon. She slowly walked up to Cortez and stood in front of him to keep him from getting closer to John "I'll go with you...ill do whatever you want but please...please let him go....please let John go.." she slowly got down on her knees "I'm begging you...ill....ill do whatever you want...but let him go...please.." . Cortez's cold eyes looked down at her with indifference "aren't you a sight when you beg..." He looked up and saw John struggling to stand. Cortez smiled as he grabbed Antonia by the hair. He lifted her onto her feet to walk with him towards John while she screamed and pleaded even more "PLEASE!! Let him go!! Ill give you all the deeds! All the money!! Please!!" but Cortez ignored her pleas and pulled back the trigger of his gun "oh johnny boy, I told you. I told you, you wouldn't win this", John looked up to meet his eyes and mustered up a "let her go..." but Cortez just laughed at the pathetic sight and put his gun back in his holster "or what John?! You cant even get up on your FEET!" and gave John a kick on the ribs near the stab wound. John coughed and rolled on his side. Antonia screamed "Let him go!!" and punched Cortez in the cheek."YOU STUPID WHORE!" He grabbed her head and head-butted her down to the ground. "Don't touch her..." John gasped as he could only helplessly look at Antonia as she groaned and tried to recover from the blow. "Get up..." Cortez hissed down to John. Cortez impatiently paced side to side "GET UP NOW!" John slowly got up on his feet and looked at him. Cortez laughed "Poor john. Did you really think you would be the hero here?" He looked down at Antonia then back at John "and where were you two going off in such a hurry? Didn't you want to say goodbye to your good old friend Cortez? Im sure the Brigby's would've loved to send you off properly" the smile quickly faded from his face "but it looks like it's only you and me, John..." Thunder could be heard in the far distance. "John.." Antonia whimpered. Cortez turned to her and laughed "Oh john! OH JOHN!" He walked over to her and grabbed her face "Don't you worry, I'll deal with you properly..." John charged at him and threw a punch but missed. Cortez taunted him "you're getting slow Johnny boy! You're not a hero. You're just like me but you're too damn proud to admit it. The only difference between you and I is, you let yourself have....weaknesses...." he looked at Antonia and grinned "Did you tell her?? Of all the fucked up things you did when you worked with me?? Of all the people you skinned, burned and tortured for fun? Or did you just forget..." John shook his head "that was a part of my past ill never be proud of..." he held his wound "I was blinded with your fake sense of duty.." Cortez shook his head "You knew damn well what you were doing. Don't play innocent with me. You're just a snake and we crawled out of the same den. Now, look at you... a murderer trying to play hero...HOW PATHETIC!" Before John could react, Cortez charged at him and punched him hard in the stomach. John fell back down to his knees as the air left his body. He gasped and tried to regain focus but his head couldn't stop spinning from the fall. A dazed Antonia lifted her head and tried to crawl towards John. Cortez looked down at her again as he continued talking "We used to be brothers, John. We killed the same amount of people you and I. Innocent people. You could never run from that. Even when you're here playing make believe with this stupid brat...." Cortez snapped his fingers at one of the men who rushed over to tie Antonia's hands together. She tried to struggle but it was no use, Cortez grinned and walked over to her and moved her hair away from her face "oh how I'm going to enjoy tearing her into tiny little pieces..." she looked into his terrifying cold eyes and continued to beg for John's life "just let him go....please..." The sound of her pleading made John get up again. He held his stomach and cringed in pain as he tried to slowly stand up straight to face Cortez "I didn't run Cortez....you...you led me through a life of wrong for almost 10 years...and I blindly followed you...those demons....they follow me everyday...when the one demon that I should've killed all those years back....is standing right in front of me...now let her go and let's settle this...." Cortez pulled his gun out of his holster and aimed it at John's chest "as you wish..." he pulled the trigger twice and hit John right in the heart. "JOHN!!!" Antonia screamed as she helplessly saw John stagger back and reach out for her. His eyes rolled back as he fell into the angry river. Cortez laughed and took a deep breath. Oh, how good it felt to win! He was finally rid of that burden. Antonia wiggled loose from the man and tried to run after John's body but Cortez quickly grabbed her and held her against him. She cried and hit him repeatedly on the chest with her tied hands "YOU KILLED HIM!! YOU BASTARD!!" He lifted her up and put her over his shoulder to get her onto his horse. "No one runs from me, you stupid girl. No one..." Cortez smiled as he spoke to her and tightly secured her "job's done boys, lets go..." A grin formed on his face as he mounted his horse and held on to his prize, who sobbed uncontrollably in front of him as he took her back to the Reynosa Hacienda. He savored the moment, he savored the victory. He had finally done it....he had won against John....


	8. La Familia Reynosa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John, Forgive me.....

Teresa waited.

A smile came to her face when she saw Cortez dragging Antonia in. The smell of cigarette violated the warm familiar smell Antonia was so used to. Cortez pushed her down to the ground and let out a sigh as he threw himself in a nearby lounge chair. Teresa looked at Antonia and walked around her father's desk. She turned to Cortez "what took you so long?" Cortez sneered "don't you fucking start with me woman. I'm in too much of a good mood to let you ruin it. I got the girl, now pay me." Teresa grinned as she walked over to Cortez and began to rub his shoulders "oh relax, you'll get your money. You'll get more than what we arranged after our little trouble maker here tells me where the deed is". Cortez pushed her hands away from him "don't touch me.." Teresa laughed "oh, the big scary man doesn't like to be touched? How funny.." Cortez shook his head and gave her an annoyed look as she walked towards Antonia. "I'm sorry it had to end like this muñeca(doll) but after what your father did, I couldn't just sit there and let it happen" she got down and lifted up Antonia's gaze to meet hers "i had every right to that money for putting up with your pathetic uncle all those years, it just wasn't fair" Antonia's teary eyes looked into hers, "now tell me, where does your father keep all the important stuff?" Antonia pulled away and looked down. She would rather die than tell this snake where any of that stuff was. Teresa slowly rose and turned around "a shame mi amor(my love) I would've wanted you to do this the easy way but.." she snapped her fingers and a man rushed over to pick Antonia up "make her talk. One way or another, I don't care just make sure it happen" but before the man could even get a step with Antonia, Cortez quickly sat up to interfere "Now, you just wait one minute. If anyone is going to this pretty bird sing its me!" he got up and stared down at the man holding Antonia, who slowly backed away, and tightly grabbed her by the arm. Teresa grinned "Well, I figured after all the trouble you went through you wouldn't want to involve yourself longer" Cortez looked down at Teresa "you don't get to assume shit. You leave her to me..." he turned to look down at Antonia "besides, this pretty little lady here deserves the proper....treatment..." Teresa nodded "very well and will you be wanting extra for this? its been made very clear to me that you're not a man that does favors out of the goodness of what is left of his heart" she took a cigarette out of a tin and lit it. Cortez grabbed the back of Antonia's neck and began to walk away with her "oh no...this...this is on me..." Teresa sat back down and grabbed a picture frame that had Antonia, Ernesto, Sylvia and Cecilia. She blew the smoke onto their smiles and threw it aside "just make sure she talks..." 

 

Cortez dragged her into the stables as she mourned for John. He grabbed some rope on the way in and pulled her over to a horse stall. He forcefully pushed her down to her knees and tied both of her hands tightly around the wooden beam. She whimpered and cried "you killed him......you killed him...." Cortez smiled and circled her like a predator who was about to play with his prey. He walked over to a table and picked up a rolled up whip. He tied it onto his holster for later and slowly walked over to Antonia "no my pet, if anyone killed John...it was you..." Cortez softly spoke as he tried to get in her head "John would still be here if you didn't put him in harm's way. You see, he had the chance to get out of this alive but you kept pushing him to bring you home..." Antonia cried harder. He was right. Everything he was saying. She had put John in Cortez's path even after she knew of their past. It was her fault. She should’ve told John to leave. She should’ve saved him from his demise. Cortez drew his knife "he did it all for you" he enjoyed as he watched her cry and drop her head in defeat. That's it. Give up you stupid brat. He looked down at her "I don't care about your stupid deeds or what happens to them. But You. You have been the most annoying bounty i have ever had to deal with" His hand grabbed her by the hair and pulled back to present her face to his. He pressed the knife on her cheek and slowly slid it across, a drop of blood slid down her face. Antonia whined and tried to avoid his gaze "you have no idea how bad you've made me look these past few days....how you've almost ruined my reputation AND To add insult to injury, you and that bastard killed my brothers...." he took the knife and cut her shirt open from the back leaving it exposed. "Think of it as, an eye for an eye. You got my brothers killed, i killed your bodyguard....but from how i saw both of you down at that river, he was more than that wasn't he?" He smirked as he carefully ran the knife on her bare back "John, always had a taste for women. Strong-headed, the type to give him a challenge but you...you gave him an adventure..." He laughed and touched her smooth back gently. Oh, how excited he was. His hands trembled to inflict all sorts of pain on her. He finally had her where he wanted "you know, my father was a preacher. He believed that some people could be saved through extreme pain..." he said as he slowly untied the whip from his holster to unravel it "he used to beat me with a whip, just like this, almost every night to cleanse me from my sins of the day..." Cortez tightly gripped the handle of the whip "and one day I understood his preachings. I finally understood my father's preachings! You see, one night i waited until he fell asleep and i cleansed him of his sins once and for all" he continued as Antonia tried to pull herself free. He chuckled as he walked up to her and grabbed her face, his cold eyes focused on hers "i can say, I saved my own father from damnation. His head even gave me a smile as i held it up in the light and I'm going to do the same thing to you!" he let her face go and backed up to make some space between them "I'm gonna make sure that filthy soul of yours is cleansed of all sin before i send you to hell!" He raised the whip and using all of his strength, he struck her bare back. Antonia shrieked and writhed in pain. She tried to frantically release her hands out of the binds but they were too tight. He struck her again and again and again, each time harder than the last. She couldn't breathe. The pain was unbearable. Cortez laughed as he kept whipping her, the sounds of her screams made all of the trouble she had put him through these last few days worth it. Little splatters of blood began to cover the whip, his face and clothes. The cracking of the whip almost echoed. She screamed as Cortez continued to whip her. What could've been 30 seconds of whipping felt like an eternity to Antonia. An evil gleam shone in Cortez's eyes as he yelled at her "REPENT OF YOUR SINS! DO IT NOW!" Through the pain she still managed to shake her head no. He stopped and let out a growling gasp. A boastful laugh came out of him as he heard her crying. He threw the whip down and used both his hands to comb back his dirty blonde hair. Antonia sobbed, she sobbed like she had never sobbed before. The pain was so unbearable that she didn't dare move. Cortez walked up and dropped to his knees behind her. He ran his hands on her bloody back, the contact made her scream in agony between sobs. He covered his hands in her blood and and held her tightly against him "you're going to repent one way or another....but this pride...this pride of yours it just has to go..." he quickly grabbed her by the hair and used his knife to start violently cutting it. Cortez enjoyed hearing her screams as he yanked and cut off fistfuls of hair. It was music to his ears. The thrill of making her suffer was exhilarating. He stopped again and admired her bloody back for a second. He touched her until his hands were covered in her blood again "oooooh look at how beautiful your blood is! Its almost a shame..." his breaths drew shaky and heavy as he grabbed what was left of her long hair to smell it. She tried to pull herself away from him but the binds were too still too tight for her to break loose, her hands had started to go numb. Antonia wanted to die. She wanted to see her mother and father smile again, she wanted to happily run through her childhood home like she used to with Cecilia, she wanted John. Cortez looked down at her. Such a sight she was to him at that moment "I've never had an urge to kill something so bad. Such a rush you are..l...oh, decisions decisions..." he put the knife up to her eyes "I can just tear those lovely little eyes of yours out of your skull or I should just slit you all over and slowly peel off your skin." Antonia growled and tried to kick him away from her. This just angered him "STOP FIGHTING!!" He grabbed her by the hair and pulled it back so hard she felt like her neck almost snapped. He lowered his voice "now, if you fight me....ill make sure whatever i do hurts even more than it already will...." but she tried to kick him again. He growled and punched her bloody back twice making her scream in pain "I SAID STOP FIGHTING!" He leaned on her and put the blade on her throat "Since you're so goddamn impatient, hold still then. I wanna see you slowly bleed out.... I want to be sure this experience is nice and slow for both of us..." Mama. Papa. Cecilia. John. Their memories were the only thing that raced through her mind as Antonia tightly closed her eyes and waited for the blade to cut into her.  
The blade suddenly pulled away from her and she felt him release her from his grip. She heard struggling behind her and turned to see a wet John holding Cortez in a tight headlock and dragging him back. Her heart jumped with joy as soon as she saw him "JOHN!" She cried as he pulled Cortez away from her. John struggled to drag Cortez back as far as he could and tried to suffocate him but the bounty hunter still had the knife in his hand and stabbed John in the leg. John screamed and released him. Cortez quickly turned and tackled John down with the knife pointed down right to his face "YOU SHOULD'VE STAYED DEAD BOY!" Cortez pushed down on the knife as hard as he could. John resisted and tried keep the knife away from him"it'll take a whole lot more than a couple of fucking bullet to kill me Cortez!" and quickly punched Cortez in the nose making him drop the knife. John kicked him off as fast as he could and kicked the knife away from his reach "if you're gonna kill me, you're going to do it with your own hands demon!" John put up his fists. Cortez laughed maniacally "oh johnny boy, you never seem to learn do you? I don't play by your rules!" and quickly reached for his whip. He swiftly swung it to strike John on the chest. The burning sensation of the hit made John growl and stumble for a bit but he regained his balanced. He looked at the crazy eyed man he once called his friend and readied himself for the next strike. Cortez swung the whip a second time but this time John let it wrap on his arm "you're still a sick twisted bastard and it ends now!" John shouted as he began pulling the whip towards him to bring him closer. Cortez gave him a crazy smile "but we are the same John! Don't you see!? We are both Demons that deserve eternal damnation! I just gotta make sure you get there first!" Cortez pulled his revolver out of nowhere and shot at John. John quickly unraveled himself from the whip and jumped behind some old crates for cover from the bullets. Cortez kept shooting at the crates and walked closer and closer to them. He pointed the gun to where John had jumped to but he was gone! John had gone around and gave Cortez swift strong kick in the chest and sent him flying back. Cortez's head hit the corner of a nearby crate hard. He made a gurgle sound and suddenly laid there motionless. John walked over to him and pulled out his knife but stopped when he heard Antonia whimper to him "john....john please untie me! I have to go find the deed before Teresa does!" John hesitated for a moment "but i need to-" Antonia pleaded "John please! Well deal with him later!" He didn't want to leave him alive but he nodded and quickly ran over to untie her. She covered herself with what was left of her shirt and turned to hold John tightly "how did you get here!? Are you alright!? I thought he killed you..." John held her and tried to keep from hurting her wounded back "me too. One of the horses from the first set of guys kept following us and I'm fine but..." he pulled out the pocket watch with a grim look. The bullets had ricochet off it, completely destroying it in the process. Antonia touched John's face and kissed him "its just a watch. It can be replaced...nothing could ever replace you.." They held each other tightly but the moment didn't last too long when when they heard men shouting outside. John looked around and found some dead farmhand to take off his shirt to hand it to her. Blood seeping through it fast. Antonia turned towards the hacienda and observed as Teresa's men began to carry large crates of explosives inside her home, Teresa planned to erase everything that had to do with her family. She turned back to John "I have to get to my father's office! Thats where he kept the deed. I cant let her have it. I refuse to let her get away with this!" she walked towards a barn door but stopped when John began to follow "John, Get out of here. Go find Seline. Start a life with her. I'll send you some money and you can pay your bounties and-" she started to walk away but John pulled her close "To hell with my bounties! I don't want Seline to start a life with, so if you think I'm leaving now you're dead set wrong. You paid me to protect you, remember?" Antonia shook her head "but the watch was destroyed...I can't pay you unless I get that deed back..." he touched her face "the moment you threw that smoke bomb at Cortez and the twins, it stopped being about money" he smiled "cuz that shit was funny as hell and I wanted to see what else you'd do." In the moment of tension they gently laughed together. She looked down with teary eyes "I just don't want to see you die.." John gently wiped a tear that rolled down her cheek "you wont. You've already seen, it'll take a whole lot more to get rid of me" she smiled and nodded "Im trusting you John, follow me..." 

 

Teresa's men had began to set sections of the Reynosa manor on fire. Antonia watched helplessly as the blaze began to consume her home. When they reached the front gate, some of Teresa's men saw them and began to shoot. "Go! Ill cover you!" John shouted at her as he pulled out both of his revolvers and began to shoot back. Antonia ran to the side of the manor and quickly rushed through a door. She pulled out her knife and made her way back to her father's office. Teresa was pulling out drawers and frantically searching for the deed when Antonia burst through the door. Teresa grabbed the nearby fire iron from the fireplace and charged at her. Antonia dodged and kept a distance from her. "WHERE IS THE DEED YOU LITTLE BRAT!!" Teresa shrieked as she swung the metal rod at Antonia again. Antonia ducked and swung her knife, cutting Teresa on the rib "I'm not going to leave you my family's hard work! It never belonged to you!" Teresa swung once again but Antonia dodged it and punched her in the face, making her drop the metal rod. Teresa tackled her and made her drop her knife. She growled as she tried to choke Antonia "i will make it belong to me! Even if it means getting your family's blood on my hands!" Antonia began to scratch her face and was able to claw her eyes. Teresa screamed and grabbed her hands and Antonia was able to remember the trick John taught her, she put her knee on Teresa's thigh and used it to push herself away and gave her a kick. She crawled away and tried to grab her knife but Teresa pulled her back by the hair. Antonia screamed and kicked her in one of her knees so hard it made a snap sound. Teresa dropped to the floor and shrieked in pain. Antonia rushed and picked up her knife as quick as she could and turned to stab Teresa in the neck. She watched as Teresa grabbed her neck and tried to frantically stop the blood from gushing out of her as she fell back. Antonia kicked her in the chest and stepped over her "Mama was right. You will never be a Reynosa" and stabbed her again in the chest. Teresa struggled to breathe as Antonia stabbed her one more time until she no longer moved. Antonia stepped away from her dead body. A fiery wooden beam fell nearby, she was running out of time! Antonia quickly ran over to her father's desk and took a picture frame that had the picture of all 4 of them. She smiled and wrapped her arms around it and ran out the doors. The fire had spread even more. The black smoke was coming through every direction making it hard for her to see and breathe. Antonia could see the crates of explosives, the fire had begun to engulf them too. She ran through the corridors of her burning home even faster and protected the picture frame.

John had killed off the last man and ran towards the side he had seen her run in "ANTONIA!" He yelled in hopes to get a reply but nothing. He paced back and forth for a second before going in after her but suddenly saw the figure running out of the front of the manor, it was Antonia! "Its going to explode! RUN!" She yelled at him as she kept running. John quickly ran away from the inferno. The fire had finally engulfed the room with the the explosives and BOOM! The explosion was huge. Antonia fell to the ground and covered her head. The force of the blast had knocked John down to the ground as well. There was a ringing in his ears that made him groan. He attempted to get up but it felt like someone kicked the air out of him. Antonia slowly stood up and turned to look at her childhood home as it was slowly devoured by the flames. She turned and saw John. At least he was ok. She should've felt sadness but something inside her finally felt ease. Her home was completely destroyed but a smile came to Antonia's face as she held up the picture frame. The picture of her family smiled back at her. She let out a shaky whisper "w-we did it" tears of happiness swelling in her eyes "Mama...Papa...Ceci...we did it..." she could feel her heart beating with utter joy! It was finally over, her family could finally rest. She smiled and touched the picture frame unaware of the demon that had crawled out of the shadows to sneak up behind her. Cortez wrapped his arm around Antonia's neck and furiously stabbed her three times in the back. Antonia tried to scream but no sound came out. "NOOOO!" John screamed as he witnessed the savage act and ran towards them as fast as he could. Cortez held her close to him and with a deep shaky breath he whispered into her ear "No one runs from me..." He closed his eyes as he savored her dying breaths in his arms and let her slowly drop to the ground. Cortez admired the sight of her as she still fought to stay alive. He got down and gently touched her face with a smile "i will find you in the next life....and i will kill you then too..." A bullet suddenly struck Cortez in the chest. Cortez stepped back as John continued firing at him. The dying bounty hunter fell on his knees and laughed maniacally "you're too late johnny boy..." he gave John a bloody grin as he began to cough up blood "I have won...." Anger ran through John's body as he got closer to the smiling demon. Fueled by this anger, John pulled out his knife and stabbed Cortez in the bottom of his stomach. Using all of his strength, John began to slice him upwards. Cortez screamed as his intestines began to slowly pour out of his body. John release him and watched Cortez's body twitch as he fell onto the ground. The smile wiped clean off his face as the pool of blood under him got bigger and bigger.

John breathed hard and threw the knife aside as there was no time to celebrate Cortez's death. He turned and ran to hold Antonia in his arms. Her breaths becoming shorter as she tried to still hold on "no.. no.. no! no! please! stay with me..." John said as he tried to put pressure on the stab wounds. She smiled at him and gently touched his face "ill....ill always be...with you..." she weakly grabbed the picture frame and pulled the back off where it hid the deed of the Reynosa Oil Company. She handed it to him and smiled "you...you are a good man John Jackson....you deserve happiness..." the skies rumbled as he grabbed the piece of paper and threw it aside. At that moment he didn't care about money or his own happiness, he wanted her and only her. He felt a lump in his throat as he held her tightly in his arms and looked into her eyes. With tears in his own eyes he gently touched her face and whispered "please....don't leave me alone..." Antonia smiled and gently touched his hand "you'll never be alone..." everything began to darken around her. She wanted to look at him one last time but something behind him caught her eye. She looked up past John and that's when she saw them. Ernesto and Sylvia Reynosa stood there waiting for her with warm welcoming glows and smiles on their faces. Her mother cried tears of happiness as her father called her over with a gentle wave "its time to go, my love. You were so very brave..." Cecilia slowly walked up to her and gave her a kind smile "you have no idea how much we've missed you. Lets go home...." and slowly reached out to her with a gentle hand. Antonia looked at her and smiled. She then turned her head into John's chest and took a soft deep breath to whisper a final "thank....you..." as Antonia slowly reached back and gently took Cecilia's hand. The glow was suddenly gone. The skies began to silently weep with him as John held onto Antonia's lifeless body tight and for as long as he could. He was never letting her go....

 

**Many months later ******

********

********

 

John returned to the lavender fields. He carefully placed carnations around the 4th grave. He took his hat off and stood there for a moment in silence. He smiled as he looked towards the mountains. The sun had begun to rise, giving him the most beautiful of colors "you are truly always with me..." he whispered to himself and admired the view. A man quietly approached him from behind "sir, there has been news a group of killers out by the deserts of New Austin, would you like to send a group out to that area?" John took a deep breath with a nod as he slowly rose to his feet and turned towards his horse. He mounted and chuckled "out in the desert hmm?" He looked at his group of 10 bounty hunters "what do you say boys? Y'all up for a hunt?" John shouted with excitement at his men. They began to shoot their guns in the air and shout in anticipation, ready to take on anything. John nodded " then lets go show those fuckers no mercy! LETS RIDE!" John shot his gun in the air and led his agency into the horizon. Yearning for adventure in his heart....and a carnation in his pocket...

 

The words on the carnation covered cross:

**_"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." _ ****__**

**__**Matthew 5:4** _ _ **

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for taking the time to read this story i came up with overnight. i am currently working on the rest but check me out on twitter for more updates and Red dead pics https://twitter.com/TuMadreKat


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